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| Plot Summary of Hard Revolution |
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"
George Pelecanos
Little, Brown, Mar 2004, 24.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0316608971
In 1968 Derek Strange joins the DC Metro Police Department even as his two best pals from his childhood, the Dominic and Angelo Martini accuse him of selling out to the man. While his soul brothers make a living stealing and scoring with easy women, Derek struggles to stay on the legal high road while unrest grows in the black community.
Avoiding being an Uncle Tom yet doing what he feels is right becomes even more difficult for Derek when his older brother Naval Reservist Dennis is addicted to drugs while encouraged by homicidal Alvin Jones and his cousin Kenneth Willis. As the Reverend King leads peaceful civil disobedience rallies that eventually lead to his assassination and rioting in the cities, Derek has doubts that he chose the right path almost a decade ago when as a teen he decided to go straight.
This prequel is an interesting deep looks at life in the ghetto especially on African-Americans before and after the King assassination. The story line is incredible when it showcases the criminal element planning and conducting robberies with the civil rights movement in the backdrop. Though the days before that fatal moment in Memphis seem disassociated with the King murder, the aftermath is brilliantly described as crime becomes the norm and anarchy rules whether it is a killing machine like Alvin or a straight shooter like Derek Strange. This is a fabulous work that brings home a bygone era through a sociology lens in which George Pelecanos is at his best painting the characters living in the traumatic landscape.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"Derek Strange is a young African-American officer in the Washington, D.C. police force in 1968. Derek works to avenge his brother's murder, and to keep order during the riots occurring after the Reverend Martin Luther King's assassination in Memphis. The "Hard Revolution" in the title is the struggle for civil rights by African-Americans."
Susanna Marlowe, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Hard Revolution |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1960's-1970's
Political/social activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- minorities fighting for rights
Inside culture (main char)
- Black
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 6 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Southeast
City?
Yes
City:
- Washington D.C.
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- explicit references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- descript of kissing
- actual description of hetero sex
- descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
- descript. of female anat. (the big V)
Unusual Style:
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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