Rebel Yell

July 6, 2009
What starts off as a drive from Nashville to Birmingham quickly moves across the globe as Randall (The Wind Done Gone
) unravels the life of Abel Jones. “The day Abel was born, sweet tucked deep in the dark South, Langston Hughes, out west on a speaking tour, typed a little poem in celebration... Abel was colored-baby royalty”—but things aren’t always so sweet. Abel faces run-ins with the KKK and, after a short lifetime as an angry husband and father and a secretive spy, meets his untimely end in the bathroom of a campy dinner theater restaurant. We learn most of his history via his first wife, Hope, following her journey from “a young Georgetown matron” to the present (thoughts on President Obama and all). As she tries to reconcile Abel’s “right to tell necessary lies to his wife, and to whomever else he chose,” she discovers what it is that bound them together in the first place. Randall leaves much to the imagination, but in the end, she successfully creates a family that’s been torn apart and haphazardly put back together by forces sometimes terrifying, sometimes hopeful.

September 1, 2009
Placing a black conservative born into the civil-rights aristocracy at the center of her new novel, Randall (Pushkin and the Queen of Spades, 2004, etc.) explores race in contemporary America.

Abel Jones Jr. is the descendant of activists and artists who fought for African-American dignity and forged comfortable communities for themselves in the midcentury South. Abel dies in the men's room of the Rebel Yell dinner theater while his white second wife, a one-time country singer, and their children watch actors in gray uniforms reenact the Confederacy's most glorious moments. As she surveys the high-ranking Pentagon officials and Republican luminaries who assemble for his funeral, Abel's black first wife, Hope, feels compelled to understand how the man she once loved turned into a self-hating African-American and a darling of the neocon movement. (Abel seems to be an amalgam of Colin Powell and Alberto Gonzales, while another character is clearly based on Condoleezza Rice.) Hope's search for answers gives this narrative shape, and the author is adept at depicting the complex interactions among races, classes and generations. When Abel's wife rejects the baked goods and casseroles offered by black Nashville's matriarchs in favor of a catered buffet—Thai, no less—for Abel's wake, the reader learns just about everything there is to know about where Abel came from and where he ended up. Unfortunately, Randall is not always so discerning; she devotes an entire paragraph, for example, to her protagonist's bathroom dcor, preferred toothbrush and choice of washcloth. Such pointless details, indulged in again and again, distract from the central, essential mystery: Who was Abel Jones Jr.?

An intriguing premise poorly executed.

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September 1, 2009
Abel Jones Jr.'s death was both tragic and comic as he suffered an asthma attack in the bathroom of the Rebel Yell during a Confederate reenactment while his white family celebrated just outside the doors. Randall, who established her clever storytelling prowess with the "New York Times" best seller "The Wind Done Gone", uses the passing of the conflicted Abel to pull together aspects of his lives as a divorc and husband, a Southern black man, father, son, government official, and intelligence agent that likely would have never intersected. The beauty here lies not only in Randall's multifaceted characterizations but in the beautiful paintings she creates with words: "The day Abel was born, sweet tucked deep in the dark South, Langston Hughes, out west on a speaking tour, types out a little poem in celebration." VERDICT Though not as poetic, this work is reminiscent of the powerful intricacies of Toni Morrison's "Love" as it weaves the past with the present. Randall's latest tale is nostalgic, heart-wrenching, and captivating. Recommended for lovers of history and fantasy with contemporary overtones.Ashanti White, Raleigh, NC

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.