Mumbo Jumbo

MUMBO JUMBO

by Ishmael Reed

 

Nomination: National Book Finalist 1973

 

Date Read: December 28, 2020

 

The one comment everyone seems to agree on with Mumbo Jumbo is that this book is challenging. I couldn’t agree more. While I pride myself on being a relatively intelligent human being, the ideas and concepts put forth here were difficult to identify with. I don’t believe this stemmed from any racial disparity but that Reed is operating on a completely different level.

 

I appreciated that at the beginning the definition of Mumbo Jumbo was provided as a “Magician who makes the troubled spirits of ancestors go away.” The premise seems simple until it spins off in every direction: Jes Grew (as in the spirit Jes Grew and grew) is spreading like wildfire across the globe, a pandemic of dancing and general revelry that some consider a plague, but others deem it the anti-plague. Of course, black artists or “Jes Grew Carriers” are the main culprits.

 

From here, Reed spins out into historical, political and social threads, using actual historical events, as well as fictional events to weave this narrative. He delves into the U.S.’s occupation of Haiti, white suppression of jazz music, Black adoption of Islam, the looting of Egyptian artifacts and even delving into an alternate interpretation of the Bible. And Mumbo Jumbo is only 228 pages. 

 

So I am sitting here and all I can think is – Damn! Reed is currently 82 and still alive and someone should give him a foot rub. If only Jes Grew were the pandemic we were suffering from now, we would all be having a lot more fun.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman In Moscow

Image
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find comfo
Read more

An Island

Image
AN ISLAND by Karen Jennings   Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021   Date Read: December 10, 2022   A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.   Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Sam
Read more

The Changeling

Image
THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2017, PEN/Jean Stein Finalist 2018   Date Read: July 21, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “A  tragedy thrusts a mourning father into peculiar, otherworldly corners of New York City. When Apollo and Emma have their baby, Brian, it feels like both reward and challenge for the new dad. Apollo, the son of a single mother, had been scraping by as a bookseller who hunts estate and garage sales for rare first editions, so even the unusual circumstance of Brian's birth (in a stalled subway train) seems like a blessing, as does the way Apollo stumbles across a first edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird  (inscribed by Harper Lee to Truman Capote, no less) shortly after. But after some young-parent squabbles and inexplicable images on their smartphones foreshadow trouble, the story turns nightmarish: Apollo finds himself tied up and beaten by Emma, then forced to listen to the sounds of Brian’s murder. LaValle has
Read more