Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Dreamer: A Novel by Charles Richard Johnson ISBN: 0-684-81224-X Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: April, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.88 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Creative look gives insight into King's life
Comment: Dreamer by Charles Johnson gives a unique look at the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. By using a fictitious double, who must examine his own life in light of the civil rights era, Johnson allows the reader to see both King and Chaym Smith, the man who would be his stand-in, struggle with issues of nonviolence and its meaning in a violent world. This well-researched novel presents a fresh look at King's life by allowing artistic license to soar while it never clouds the truth. Although some details are the product of the author's imagination, others are well documented among King scholars. The presentation of fact in the environment of creative detail allows a glimpse of King that I have seen nowhere else. The story moves quickly and never digresses into detail that is irrelevant to the narrative, but gives enough pertinent detail to help those unfamiliar with the setting, while convincing those who know more details concerning King's life that the author is also a brilliant scholar. A GOOD READ.
Rating: 5
Summary: A surprisingly fresh look at a familiar icon
Comment: You know a movie's a hit when the audience remains sitting while the credits roll. A great novel affects me the same way. I'm silently awed by the gift of a powerful story.
Charles Johnson has written such a strong tale. His "hero," Chaym Smith, is an embittered, tattered, unemployed, former mental patient and drunk. He has one gift and one curse. He's brilliant, with a "photographic memory," and he looks exactly like Martin Luther King. Having thoroughly ruined his own life, he volunteers to serve as a double for King. If he dies substituting for the man he honors, at least his life will have meant something.
King reluctantly agrees, and two young workers take Smith to the country to train him in King's body language and speech patterns. Smith is a quick learner, but a frightening debater. He insists equality is impossible. Even in the beginning, God preferred Abel to Cain (a variation of his first name) for unexplained reasons. Still, he'll risk his life for his Abel.
Quoting extensively from King's speeches and colleagues' remembrances, Johnson shows how King's thought was moving beyond the narrow goal of racial equality to the basic Christian concept of self-sacrificing love for all. King wants to lead his people further than white suburbia, to the real Promised Land. Like Christ and Gandhi, his heroes, his prophetic message will generate violence.
Especially in the passages written from King's point of view, Johnson, a National Book Award winner, shows the incredible pressures on a man whose words can provoke riots but not understanding. No matter how familiar the subject seems before you begin reading, this novel will haunt you.
Kathleen T. Choi, HAWAII CATHOLIC HERALD
Rating: 4
Summary: Finally a great read!
Comment: This is easily one of the most overlooked books I have ever read. Rich dialogue, interesting characters, poetic moments tie this story into a wonderful tale. The title can be read as MLK himself, as Bishop & his lust for Amy & wish for more self-confidence (i.e.- not so introverted & forgettable in the face, although when the character states this it is not drowned in sentiment) and the decoy Smith with his self-obsession to be like MLK. This is a rather quick read- very tight with little fat. Things happen quickly, and the observations Bishop make are unique, as well as the thoughts filling the mind of MLK. Some complaints about the end, re: "we all killed him"- Johnson isn't at all preachy, and again is only a defacto comment & not drenched in sentiment. There is no "Hurrah!" moment- & this is what makes it realistic & probably why Johnson is such an overlooked writer. Also there are some wonderfully musical lines that would make for good poetry. Highly recommended if you want a deep, reflective story & not a condescending epic.
 |
Title: MIDDLE PASSAGE by Charles Johnson ISBN: 0684855887 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: Oxherding Tale by Charles Johnson ISBN: 0452275032 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Faith And The Good Thing by Charles Johnson ISBN: 0743212541 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 10 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: Turning the Wheel: Essays on Buddhism and Writing by Charles Johnson ISBN: 0743243242 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
 |
Title: Soulcatcher: And other stories by Charles Johnson ISBN: 0156011123 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 15 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
