My Amazon and Goodreads review of Deacon King Kong: A Novel by James McBride (Rating 3) – More Show Off Than Show. Writers like myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page) are familiar with the advice “Show, Don’t Tell.” I wish the editor of Deacon King Kong by James McBride had give the author the advice “Show, Don’t Show Off.” At first his over-the-top riffs on the marginal people and politics in Brooklyn’s fictitious Cause Houses are mildly entertaining, but I soon skimmed past them to get back to the story. When McBride does return to the intersecting lives of his diverse characters — black, Italian, Irish, and Puerto Rican — the book picks up energy. The title character is actually the least interesting, and the criminal shenanigans are too convoluted to follow, but the emotional and spiritual turns in people’s lives are moving. I understand that many of the details in Deacon King Kong are based on McBride’s own life growing up in Brooklyn’s Projects. Having read his wonderful memoir The Color of Water, I wish he’d chosen memoir instead of fiction for this book too.
