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After arriving on the American literary scene with novels of scathing social protest like If He Hollers Let Him Go and The Lonely Crusade, Chester Himes created a pioneering pair of dangerously effective African-American sleuths, Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, Harlem's toughest detective duo, who must carry the day against an absurdist world of racism and class warfare. The Big Gold Dream is the explosive and shocking hardboiled classic that explores the shadowy underbelly of New show more York as an urban civil war erupts on the side streets of Harlem, pitting murderers and prostitutes against corrupt politicians and racist white detectives. Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson attempt to maintain some kind of order in the neighborhood they have sworn to protect-in a world gone mad around them. show lessTags
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“Most people in Harlem consider the police as public enemies,” Grave Digger elaborated.
A woman who drank the holy water of Sweet Prophet at his huge street baptizing revival gathering drops stone cold dead. Did the water that he had blessed poison one of his converts?
“Her furniture was stolen while she was unconscious, and two people have been killed about it,” Grave Digger informed him. But why? And where does the $100,000 fit in?
Grave Digger shows up on page 43, Coffin Ed on 44! And then they disappear from the story until page 151! Which for me was a disappointment, as I'm reading this series primarily to hear more about those two! This hardly qualifies as a G.D. and C.E. book with so brief of appearances. A decent story, but show more I want G.D. and C.E.!
“Born like a fool, and worked like a mule.” That could be MY life’s motto!
“If you is a black woman like me, you got to believe in something.” show less
A woman who drank the holy water of Sweet Prophet at his huge street baptizing revival gathering drops stone cold dead. Did the water that he had blessed poison one of his converts?
“Her furniture was stolen while she was unconscious, and two people have been killed about it,” Grave Digger informed him. But why? And where does the $100,000 fit in?
Grave Digger shows up on page 43, Coffin Ed on 44! And then they disappear from the story until page 151! Which for me was a disappointment, as I'm reading this series primarily to hear more about those two! This hardly qualifies as a G.D. and C.E. book with so brief of appearances. A decent story, but show more I want G.D. and C.E.!
“Born like a fool, and worked like a mule.” That could be MY life’s motto!
“If you is a black woman like me, you got to believe in something.” show less
They the mens.
The Detective Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson Harlem crime novels are originals with few precedents (with perhaps THE CONJURE-MAN DIES by Rudolph Fisher being one). Many of them were indeed published as paperback originals in this country.
EL GRAN SUEÑO DE ORO ♦ POR AMOR A IMABELLE ♦ ALGODON EN HARLEM
Sep 26, 2018 (Edited)Spanish
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Author Information
59+ Works 6,156 Members
Chester B. Himes was born in Jefferson City, Missouri on July 29, 1909. He attended Ohio State University in Columbus, but was expelled his freshman year for a prank. He began writing short stories and having them published in national magazines such as Abbott's Monthly Magazine and Esquire while in prison for armed robbery. He was paroled after 8 show more years and eventually joined the Works Progress Administration, where he served as a writer with the Ohio Writers' Project. His first novel, If He Hollers Let Him Go, is about the fear, anger, and humiliation of a black employee at a racist defense plant during World War II and was published in 1945. He moved to Paris, France in the 1950s and then to Moraira, Spain in 1969. He was more popular in Europe than in the United States and primarily wrote about black protagonists plagued by white racism and self-hate. His other works include Lonely Crusade, Pinktoes, Black on Black, The Quality of Hurt, and My Life As Absurdity. He also wrote detective novels set in Harlem, New York City including Run Man, Run, The Real Cool Killers, and Blind Man with a Pistol. He won the 1958 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and the 1982 Columbus Foundation award. He died on November 12, 1984 from Parkinson's Disease. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Big Gold Dream
- Original title
- The Big Gold Dream
- Original publication date
- 1960
- People/Characters
- Coffin Ed Johnson; Grave Digger Jones; Sugar Stonewall; H. Exodus Clay
- Important places
- Harlem, New York, New York, USA
- First words
- "Faith is a rock! It's like a solid gold dream!"
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It's the high cost of living.
- Original language*
- Amerikanisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 238
- Popularity
- 136,982
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.65)
- Languages
- 7 — Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 27
- ASINs
- 12
