Bedrock Faith

October 21, 2013
May’s expansive first novel reveals the complicated emotional economy that holds together a neighborhood in crisis. When Gerald “Stew Pot” Reeves returns home after spending most of his adult life in prison for assault, his old neighbors are dismayed: in the quiet Chicago suburb of Parkland, Stew Pot was an unrepentant troublemaker who even burned down sweet Mrs. Motley’s garage next door. Then Stew Pot shows up at Mrs. Motley’s door asking for a Bible, and she urges the neighborhood association to give him a second shot. But Stew Pot’s newfound contrition comes at a price: as he joins community life again, he begins to judge his neighbors for their bad behavior, interrupting them on dates and authoring a newsletter called “The Burning Bush” that warns them of sin. Feeling bullied in their own homes, residents of Parkland decide to strike back. May’s vivid descriptions of the rhythms of life in the suburb, whose tight-knit middle-class families are unwilling to face a problem that can’t be solved by law, contrast with the largely unexplained motives of Stew Pot, who swings from harmless pest to violent menace. Yet, portrayed from a variety of perspectives that reveal vibrant lives in ordinary houses, Parkland is just as captivating when its most troubled son is not in the picture, as decades-old grudges and feuds come to light.

November 15, 2013
In this debut, May (Fiction Writing/Columbia College Chicago) walks the streets of Parkland on Chicago's South Side, exploring race, community and religion. May writes of a town settled by African-Americans fleeing Jim Crow's South. 1990s Parkland is a stable, middle-class community, with hardworking families long acquainted, each house known to all; redbrick two-flats, large wooden foursquares. May writes of Mrs. Motley, a retired school librarian and insurance agent's widow, with a son in the Army, stationed at Fort Sill; Mr. Davenport, a teacher and block-club president; Erma Smedley, divorced, beautiful enough that "the men perked up," who is hiding a secret; the Powells and Hicks; and 1960s radical Mrs. Butler, raising grandson Reggie. The familiar tranquility is fractured by Gerald "Stew Pot" Reeves, still young after nearly half a lifetime of imprisonment. Under the prison tutelage of Brother Crown, Stew Pot's seen "The Light," and he's intent on exposing the devil in Parkland. Stew Pot's witnessing soon flames into jeremiads, and as he exposes hidden transgressions, Parkland's perception of him changes "from the weird-but-harmless category to the crazy-dangerous-hot-list." Stew Pot discovers Erma is a "lesbianite." Erma's shamed and flees. Stew Pot drives the Davenports away and then frightens Mrs. Hicks, who later dies after collapsing from heatstroke. May writes with meticulous detail, seemingly tedious in listing clothing, houses, shops and churches, but as the complex saga unfolds, his detailed viewpoint lends credence to the humanity of Parkland's people. Stew Pot's exposure of secrets causes lifelong friendships to implode, and in a misdirected strike at Stew Pot, Mrs. Motley's treasured home is burned. With wounded veteran Mr. McTeer and Alderman Vernon Paiger as suitors, May's Mrs. Motley is a superbly rendered, evolving character and the narrative's heart: intent on dignified kindness and generosity, on propriety and perspective, yet plagued by unintended consequences and forced to ask herself, "what do you say to the pain of someone who felt horribly wronged by your right?" A perceptive and entrancing meditation on friendship and family, love and forgiveness.

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November 15, 2013

In this debut novel, May creates a middle-class African American neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, named Parkland, where residents are mainly older and have lived in the community since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Despite the area's beauty, the neighborhood had once been terrorized by the young Gerald "Stew Pot" Reeves. He burned Mrs. Motley's garage, butchered a neighbor's cat, and terrorized others with his massive pit bull, Hitler. After Stew Pot is arrested for the rape of a white woman, Parkland returns to its quiet routine. When Stew Pot is released from prison at 31, he returns to Parkland and intimidates the people again, only this time as a Bible-thumping moral policeman who outs one neighbor and causes the death of another. VERDICT May slowly builds suspense as he persuasively unfolds the narrative in this work that reads like an Agatha Christie mystery. The characters, even those whose names are never mentioned, are versatile and relatable, and May's descriptions embody a tapestry of words. Like Ronald M. Gauthier's Crescent City Countdown, this story will appeal to readers of thrillers and African American fiction.--Ashanti White, Yelm, WA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2013
Parkland is a close-knit, gossipy, middle-class neighborhood at the furthermost edge of Chicago's vast South Side. Established in the 1870s by African American migrants from the Deep South, Parkland is proud of its heritage and easily riled by change or disruption. In early 1993, Stew Pot Reeves, the terror of 129th Street, returns to his mother's house after serving less than half of his 30-year sentence. Mrs. Motley, a widow and retired school librarian, lives next door. Impeccably put-together and decorous, she is the moral compass of this sure-footed, microcosmic drama, the first novel by Columbia College Chicago associate professor May. As Mrs. Motley and her neighbors, including devoted admirer Mr. McTeer, the lively Powell family, and sexy, enigmatic Erma Smedley, brace for Stew Pot's renewed assaults, they discover that after finding the Light in prison, he has become a hectoring scold, merciless spy, and diabolical agent of misery. Stew Pot's fanaticism ignites smoldering conflicts that force his neighbors to confront complex moral dilemmas and recognize their authentic selves. In this vivid, suspenseful, funny, and compassionate novel of epiphanies, tragedies, and transformations, May drills down to our bedrock assumptions about ourselves, our values, and our communities. As sturdy as a Chicago bungalow and bursting with life, May's debut is perfect for book clubs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)