Mumbo Jumbo (1972)

Something like a version of Black Like Me, but written by Pynchon----this one just wasn't my cup of tea. The pace was lightning fast, but it never slowed down or went in depth enough for me to really catch hold of any but the most basic ideas within the plot. It was an interesting experiment in conception and reading, but after the experiment wore off on me in the first hundred or so pages, there just wasn't anything there to keep me going. Cinematic--experimental--interesting--creative.......but not, in the end, anything I'd want to come back to. For me, the points could have been made with less somersaulting in the text and structure. ( )

Beyond intriguing to mind-bending, in a very good way, were Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed and Atomik Aztex by Sesshu Foster. Both novels are highly stylized and require a lot of attention, but were, I thought, well worth it. I'm still thinking about both of them.

Oh hell yeah on this crazy fucking book. ( )

Cool Papa Bell was so fast that he'd hit the light switch and before the room went dark he'd be all wrapped up in the covers. i saw ishmael reed at the downtown library in Detroit, and he was just as quick. ( )

Multimedia book, before there really was multimedia. Jus Grew has infected America and the Knights Templar and the Wallflower Order are out to stop it. Papa LaBas and his VooDoo cronies are out to stop them. The movement is just what it says it is, and came into creation the same way: it "Jus' Grew." This is a mystical book that describes Reed's attitudes about race, incorporates legends from Europe and Africa, and is a murder/conspiracy novel at the same time. ( )