In the Shadow of the Son.

In the Shadow of the Son by Michael Simanga Third World Press, December 1999, $16.95, ISBN 0-883-78206-5

Simanga paints a world where a disadvantaged black kid from the hip-hop-infused projects can build a power base with military precision until he is ruler of the streets, the drug trade, the cops, the crooked mayor and even a young black savior/intellectual. Still, the character he creates remains sympathetic. Catrell Merit commands respect and deals fairly, but in his empire the laws decree that all opposition must be crushed--permanently. Nothing personal. He has the requisite women flocking around and a gangsta soundtrack that puts the reader in the moment.

Catrell is the native son whose ghetto environment flies in the face of powerful black militant teachings (he reads everything from Marcus Garvey to Amiri Baraka) and bolsters the influence of his murdered older brother in shaping a gangsta-all-powerful who occasionally supports the revolution with blood money from the streets. All this, and Catrell is not even the main character in Simanga's first novel.

The level of black-on-black brutality and destruction is sometimes shocking in this novel, but not unbelievable. Catrell's gangland existence and actions are logical according to the world in which he moves. At times the novel veers toward overkill; it seems that every conceivable tragedy happens to most of the characters most of the time.

In the Shadow of the Son, on the surface, is a political thriller with lots of beautiful, intelligent, black warrior men, some like-spirited women, black music including Coltrane, Nina Simone, Bob Marley and Tupac (though artists' names and/or CD titles are a little too heavily sprinkled around for mood). Simanga references black history from David Walker to Nat Turner, from Angela Davis to Malcolm X. One of the novel's most powerful messages is that the hip-hop generation cannot be dismissed. He also attempts a deconstruction of the often two-dimensional portrayal of the black gangster.

The novel presents all the depravity of the urban battleground as it exists alongside the beauty and hope of black love. The novel reveals a message of contemporary revolution and attempts to highlight the warrior spirit of the '60s which calls out for the guidance of elders living on today, though filtered through a new community drum.