Nigger Heaven

This 1926 novel of the Harlem Renaissance, written by a white, gay man, drew fire from the black community for its scandalous title. It's good, but a bit too polemical for my taste. His point is that there are rich blacks, intellectual blacks, jazz-players, poor blacks and gigolos all living side by side in Harlem. They are various and interesting people and not of one mind on any subject and we should really get to know them. His main characters are not fully realized to me. The bitter young college-educated Byron Kasson, who can't get a job any better than elevator operator, seems somewhat stilted and one dimensional. His priggish, long-suffering, librarian girlfriend is not much better. What I loved were the descriptions of Harlem show more life, the cabarets in all their tawdriness and the lavish parlours of the wealthy. The tragic ending seemed cheap and unnecessary. I think it could have been much more complex, but still very enjoyable. show less