Critique of "Palace Council"

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Author Message   Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 12889 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 11:30 pm:        I finally finished "Palace Council", Stephen L. Carter's epic novel of political intrigue and the final entry in the trilogy that included "The Emperor of Ocean Park", and "New England White". The first 2 books were monumental testaments to the author's ability to weave riveting tales that challenged the reader's concentration but I found this last one to be an easier and more enjoyable read. It was as though its pages became a screen for the motion picture of Carter's vivid narrative. As I got into the story, I actually began to feel like I was viewing a movie rather than reading a book, thanks to how the descriptive prose inspired my imagination and how the cast was brought to life by the authentic dialogue. The main character, Edward "Eddie" Wesley, is a brilliant, well-bred, irrepressible young black man, reminiscent of a time-traveler whose journey begins in New York's Harlem back in 1954 and ends 25 years later. As the story develops so does Eddie, his transformation set against the backdrop of an America that is also undergoing a transistion. An obscure gadabout at loose ends, Eddie eventually achieves fame and fortune, becoming a critically-acclaimed writer, a political confidant, an international figure, and an unrequited lover of an elusive woman, all the while rubbing elbows with such real-life people as Richard Nixon and Langston Hughes. But it is the disappearance of his radical activist sister that turns Eddie into a courageous man. And as the book's plot thickens, his risk-taking puts him in the path of danger as he doggedly searches for his beloved sibling, a quest around which much of the book revolves. I certainly didn't find this novel to be a case of "art imitating life" when considering its incursion into the shadowy world of secret societies, revolutionary conspiracies and political manipulation because the people involved in these activities were not ordinary black folks. What comes to mind in my assessment of this revealing book is that "truth is stranger than fiction" as the reader is made privy to the surrepticious goals of a cabal of powerful professional Blacks who wheel and deal behind the closed doors of our nation's capital. As for recommending "Palace Council", I found it to be engrossing because, having lived through the era covered in the book, reading it brought back memories. But - because some elements of the story were just too far-fetched, I am inclined to give a three-and-a-half star rating to this 510-page "door stop" instead of a four-star one. This was a good, well-structure book full of mystery, history, and suspense but the story-line is not always plausible.   Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 3207 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - 10:17 am:        Just a couple of points for now: Cynique I totally agree that this book was far more enjoyable and faster-paced than his other two. (And I really enjoyed them.) I kept trying to figure out why. Maybe it is just that he is now so much more immersed in this world that he created and "knows" his characters better. Whatever the case, I loved it. I wish I had the $$ to bring this to the screen (actually, all of these). Hopefully someone does. I agree about some of it being far-fetched. However that did not concern me. I did not take the book as fictionalized or parallel history, but more like a James Bond movie. The implausible things that happened were plausible in the context of the suspended belief that I had already bought into. Carter kinda eases this buying-in process. For example, he could have started like one of my favorite books of all time: "Eddie Wesley awoke one morning in Harlem to find himself turned into a giant cockroach..." LOL But you know, I am going to have to go back and read the first book. I have forgotten so much of it. It will be interesting to read/re-read the set, in the order of the narrative chronology.   Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 12893 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - 12:15 pm:        Yes, you do have to decide what genre to put this book in, Yvette. As a "thriller" it did fit the bill. I guess it was the little things that kept snaggin me, how Eddie, with his penchant for diggin into people's background, was fooled by his girlfriend's simple deceptions. How so many of the characters were crafted to fit the plot rather than acting naturally, and how I had to take the author's word for why the men in this book found the women they pursued so desireable. I didn't find any of the female characters to be that irresistable. Meooow.