Charlie Smith (1) (1947–)

Cot Sims, a low-level henchman who does “variety work” for a Miami gangster returns to his Key West hometown to help his mother when her house is declared uninhabitable after a storm. He also picks up again with Marcella, married now to the county prosecutor, but really the love of Cot’s life. “They hadn’t had to fight to get out and they didn’t have to fight to get back in.”

Cot steals some emeralds that belong to his boss, which brings a boatload of trouble on Cot and everyone show more he cares for.

Charlie Smith is a poet as well as a novelist, and it shows. Common observations become special: “A tiny, ambidextrous breeze pushes lightly at blossoms in the big tamarind tree in the alley.” He does little tricks like squeezing four colors into one sentence: “An orange cat sat up in a lime tree staring at some little black-faced birds flickering around in the top of a nearby manila palm.”

This is a crime novel, but a lyrical, poetical one. “The brilliant Key West day leaning down like an old man looking at a bright feather on the floor.” It contains the best of both worlds – the action never droops under the weight of the description. show less

Ginny Gall is the latest work from prize winning author Charlie Smith.

The title? Ginny Gall is a word coined by 1920's and 1930's blacks meaning..."a suburb of Hell". And that's where Smith takes the reader to start - to the Jim Crow south in Tennessee.

The lead character is Delvin Walker born in Chattanooga in 1913 to a prostitute. He's left alone too soon as his mother flees, accused of killing a white man. Smith takes the reader on Delvin's journey through life as he makes his way - first show more finding a home with the local black funeral director and then mirroring his mother as he too is accused of killing a white boy and flees Chattanooga. He rides the rails, exploring America, hoping for more, hoping for better. But it seems he can't outrun prejudice, inhumanity and injustice.

I loved Delvin's voice, his hopes and his thoughts. I wept at the fact that you could change the dates of the story and still post it under today's newspaper headlines.

Smith's prose reminded me of black strap molasses - richly coloured and glowing when the light shines through as it is poured. But also viscous and opaque when not moving. I had to put the book down a number of times and come back to it. The prose are beautiful and lyrical, but I found them overwhelming in large doses. Smith details every bit of the book, sometimes to the detriment of his protagonist and his message.

This one's going to be hard to rate - I think there's a very important message here, I think Smith's writing is beautiful and I liked the protagonist very much, but I just got bogged down in detail. show less

Cotland Sims is a Miami gangster who goes home to Key West to help his mother whose home was destroyed by a hurricane. The way he thinks he robs some emeralds and is soon being chased by his boss. Soon he, his mother, brother and girlfriend are running for their lives.

A colorful is not violent story filled with twists and turns, but not enough to hold my attention or care about Cot or his family. Although, the descriptions of southern Florida were prevailing and the writing smooth; it show more didn’t help with me in following the plot which I thought was ordinary. show less

Growing up black in Jim Crow America. Lovely, poetic writing. Makes me want to read more by this author. Library book.