Haarlem

Starred review from June 13, 2005
Abel Paulus Crofton, the biracial son of an abusive, alcoholic saxophonist and a Dutch mother he never knew, confronts his past in a journey from Harlem, N.Y., to the neighborhood's titular Dutch namesake in Neff's compelling fourth novel (after Blackgammon
). Like his father, 45-year-old Crofton, a New York City subway tunnel worker, battles what he calls "The Thirst," but has spent 12 years sober with the help of his friend and sponsor, Serge. Crofton's alcoholism is both a symptom of a childhood virtually devoid of love (save the nurturing of his paternal grandmother) and a cause of a reckless, promiscuous adulthood without meaningful human connection. When his father dies at the novel's start, Crofton sets off for the Netherlands in search of his mother armed only with her name, Justina van Gelder, and a desire to make peace with himself. In Amsterdam, he meets Sophie, a strong but tender recovering addict who makes him do the hard work of introspection and accompanies him on his quest for family, including not only his mother but a long-lost brother, too. Neff's gift for snappy dialogue propels this poignant book about hope: for love's redeeming power, the ability to forgive and the gift of second chances.

July 15, 2005
Abel, a man of African American and Dutch descent, has spent his whole life in the famed New York City neighborhood of Harlem. He has always had a tumultuous relationship with his jazz-playing alcoholic father and bad luck with women. When his father dies, Abel decides to go to Holland to find the Dutch mother he never knew. Along the way, Abel meets Sophie, a Dutch Caribbean waitress who shares similar experiences, and learns family secrets that are so terrible that he nearly risks his 12 years of sobriety to deal with them. Upon his arrival in the Dutch town of Haarlem, Abel is welcomed by the locals as a Dutchman who happens to be black, which helps him become more open to the idea that not all white people are racist. In her latest novel (after "Accident of Birth"), Neff portrays a man trying to come to grips with his destructive past in order to live a better future; she also depicts the many complexities of life in Europe for people of color. Additionally, Neff makes the issue of an interracial couple seem as normal as any union. Well crafted and uplifting, this is recommended for most fiction collections. -Leslie Hayden, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2005
Abel Crofton at 45 years old lives a harsh and lonely life in Harlem, working underground for the electric company and struggling daily with the Thirst. His AA sponsor is his only true friend. Abel is bitterly estranged from his abusive father, an erratic jazz musician, and his father's death frees Abel to travels to Haarlem in the Netherlands in search of the mother he's never known. He finds that the city from which his beloved Harlem gets its name has its own allure. Abel also discovers a family past rife with violence and abuse visited by his musically talented but bitterly frustrated father against his Dutch mother. And he finds Sophie, a beautiful Dutch-Caribbean woman, who is struggling with her own troubled past and fight to stay sober. The two of them slowly reveal to themselves and to each other the secrets in both their lives as Sophie helps Abel to negotiate the dangerous underbelly of her Haarlem in solving the mystery of why Abel's father ultimately fled for the Harlem of America.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)