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Travis
Hunter
Striver’s
Row / Villard / 256 pages
ISBN #:
0-375-50895-3
COMING OF AGE—GHETTO STYLE
Ê
Every facet of
hero Jermaine Banks’ life is enshrouded in drama. As much as he tries to
escape it and get his life together, he can’t. Drama, angst and negativity
just seem to follow him in Trouble Man.
For one thing, he
is a born hustler and if there’s a way to get something done, he will figure
it out. No matter if it’s not quite right, he’ll do it anyway if that’ll
achieve the desired results. He is determined to make it on his own terms
and not turn out like the other male family members who have been in and out
of jail throughout his life.
From the ghetto,
the product of a single mother and a deadbeat dad, Jermaine vows not to do
the same thing to his son, Khalil—an impressionable youngster whom he feels
deserves more than he ever had. And he does his best to deliver. It’s rough
for a minute, but Jermaine does all he can for his offspring and lets Khalil
know that he loves him. Being an absent father doesn’t even remotely enter
Jermaine’s mind. He knows Khalil is worth his time, love and attention and
he gives him plenty of each.
Although Khalil’s
ghettofabulous mother adopts a lifestyle not to Jermaine’s liking, at first,
he calls her on it. They disagree about it, but he relents saying that
Khalil is the most important part of the equation. However, he lets her know
that he will be watching for her to slip up in any way.
She is not the
only woman in Jermaine’s life. He also has a love-hate, on again/off again
relationship with Erin, a classy young woman who has high aspirations in
life, perhaps so much so that it causes her not to truly understand him.
They love each other, but something stands in their way preventing them from
having a storybook type romantic relationship.
It doesn’t help
matters that Erin is pregnant with his child or that her father hates
Jermaine because he thinks of him as nothing more than knucklehead hoodrat
who’s not good enough for his little girl.
The one
thing that keeps Jermaine going through all of his drama is his strong
desire to be a good father to Khalil. Jermaine’s father abandoned his mother
many years ago and he has no clue who he is—except for the fact that he sent
a regular check to her.
Enter CJ, a young man
who lives with his parents in a sprawling mansion in the same neighborhood
as basketball superstar Allen Iverson. CJ, for all intents and purposes, is
well loved, wants for nothing and has a lifestyle rivaled only by the top
celebrities.
CJ’s father hits his mother one night during a heated argument.
He is livid that he would have the gall to lay a hand on his mother who has
been the perfect wife and parent throughout the years. She makes the father
leave and reveals to CJ that he has a sibling, which his dad had before
their marriage.
The climax of the
story is riveting and compelling and Hunter unfolds the plot with the right
amount of suspense and precision. Some of what is learned is foreshadowed
from earlier events, but never is too much given away before it’s time.
Trouble Man
is an excellent read as all of the elements of writing are followed and done
well. Hunter takes protagonist Jermaine Banks to a new level in this novel
and fans that enjoyed him before can get to experience another dimension of
his complex personality. The characterization is strong as is the colorful
dialogue and urban plot. Those elements make Trouble Man a good read
and one that is accessible to readers. There are situations and people in
this book to which every reader will be able to relate. However, please be
advised that this novel drips with testosterone and is very male. This is
undoubtedly a male book to which men will be able to easily relate. However,
this doesn’t mean that a female can’t learn and savor the fantastic story
contained within its pages.
Although the book
starts off as being very male, like putting the pieces of a puzzle together,
Hunter made every piece fit perfectly and everything gelled in the end.
I’d advise
readers who enjoy gritty, down home urban fiction to check out Trouble
Man, this coming of age story about a young man who grows in so many
ways and finally learns what it really means to be a man.
Nathasha Brooks-Harris is the author of Panache,
and Emma award-winning contemporary romance novel. |