The Men Of Brewster Place (Simon & Schuster Audio) [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Gloria Naylor (Illustrator), Joe Morton (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

Naylor returns to the fictional neighborhood, this time focusing on the men behind the women who inhabited that desolate block of row houses, telling their tragic, sad, funny, and heroic stories.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Gloria Naylor revisits the dilapidated brick walls, sagging ceilings, and decrepit plumbing of Brewster Place, a feeble fortress that jealously guards the hell, heartache, and hope of its tenants. Ben, the kind, alcoholic janitor from The Women of Brewster Place returns as a mythical minstrel of sorts, wandering in and out of the lives of Brewster's male denizens, introducing their stories, each a quest for the meaning of manhood.

For autistic Brother Jerome, masculine identity comes in the form of a rickety upright piano whose missing keys and wobbly wires burst to life when he plays. Jerome plays so well (better than Count Basie, mind you) that his hedonistic mother decides not to institutionalize him so she can charge for his performances. Eugene, however, has a more difficult act to shore: he's married, he's a father, and he's gay. Ceil, his wife, doesn't know that's why he keeps leaving, so she takes family matters into her own hands and sends Eugene into a bottomless pit of guilt and self-loathing. Basil looks for his redemption in a contemptuous trash bag named Keisha and her two beautiful, neglected sons, Jason and Eddie. Will Basil find atonement for his sins against his mother if he gives those boys what he never received as a child? The men of Brewster Place continue to stream into the story in raw, biting vignettes until the stage is full and the future of their community is threatened. Can these men come together and reclaim what's theirs? The answer lies at the root of self-worth and sexual identity. Or, in the words of Ben, "Brewster Place is a small street but it seems there's an endless supply of I coulda, I shoulda, but didn't. Can you call it any man's blues? I don't know, but you can definitely call it the black man's blues." --Rebekah Warren --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

As narrated by Joe Morton, everyone has a story to tell on Brewster Place and Naylor eloquently gives voice to the people who live there. Fifteen years ago we heard the women of that byway (The Women of Brewster Place, Audio Reviews, LJ 5/1/94 and LJ 11/15/93); now we hear from the men. Brewster Place is not an address to which people aspire yet it is not quite an address for people of despair. Sure, they've seen better times in the past and just maybe they'll see better times in the future. Meanwhile, they're getting by from day to day. Morton brings each of the characters to life: Ben, the neighborhood janitor, who serves as the chorus; Brother Jerome, the musical genius with his child's mind; Basil, who wants a family so badly that he makes the wrong choices; Rev. Moreland T. Woods, who wants a new church to glorify himself; and the others who gather at the barber shop to comment on the general state of the world. This is great storytelling and a good choice for public library collections.ANann Blaine Hilyard, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audioworks (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671576887
• ISBN-13: 978-0671576882
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,292,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book seemed out of time., August 8, 2005

By 

michie "michie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Men of Brewster Place (Hardcover)

I just finished THE MEN OF BREWSTER PLACE YESTERDAY and while I enjoyed some elements of the book, I was also left confused. 1st I saw the film THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE before I read the book. I seemed to me the film was set in the mid to late 1960s. The WOBP novel seemed to be set in that era as well. So with TMOBP I thought it would be set parallel to time of the prior novel, but it appears to be set in the future (mid 1980s w/some flashbacks) but sometimes it did not make sense. For ex. C.C. Baker appeared to be in his late teens in the first book and movie and he is still the same age in this book. If it was set in the 1980s he would be pushing forty years-old maybe. Also some references to crack,AIDS seem more contemporary and the name Hakim was very unusual if he was C.C.'s older stepbrother and the era was the 1960s. I just don't know. Overall the book was not great but it did not suck, I enjoyed TWOBP much,much more.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What !, June 14, 2000

By 

S. Bishop "bookworm" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Men of Brewster Place (Hardcover)

Was Gloria just trying to get a book out to compete with the barrage of fiction being released by black writers or what? She could not have been seriously thinking that this book was of any value.

The characters were week. The storylines were not in line with the way they were portrayed in the Women of Brewster Place.

I got this book when it first came out. I read it quickly and nearly tossed it down in disgust. I went to the post office and mailed it to my best friend because I wanted to see if I was crazy for thinking it was so bad (but I didn't want her to waste the money herself).

I was truly disappointed. I expected so much more from one of my favorite writers of the 80's. I know she can do better because she has on all previous attempts.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Italicized Narration of a Dead Guy., November 27, 2006

By 

Jabberwocky (Elsewhere, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Men of Brewster Place: A Novel (Paperback)

The Men of Brewster Place is in no way better than The Women of Brewster Place; but it is relevant for one reason: it satisfies the curiosity of those who wanted to know the fate of the men who had such serious effects on the women from Gloria Naylor's previous book.

Naylor does some backtracking to link the former novel to this one. For someone like myself who just got finished reading The Women of Brewster Place right before this one, the rehashing of dialogue and former events becomes tiresome. I guess it's necessary for those who choose to read this book before its sister novel.

The stories of the men are also not as compelling. Ben, the drunk, acts as our narrator. Being the former super, he has some comment about each of the men portrayed.

We find out what happened to Basil after he deserted his mother.
We find out what happened to Eugene after he deserted Ceil.
We find out what happened to Moreland Woods after he deserted Etta.

Well, you get the point. There was a lot of desertion going on, which is an all too realistic happening regarding the black family.

Each man's story is not necessarily on the same time line as the others. We're shown events that happened before the events in Women...,and some that happen 3 to 10 years after. I think The Women of Brewster was published in 1982 and took place during the same period. The Men...was published long after 1982, and you can tell. There's an awkward blending from the first book to this one that still feels disconnected.

I found Eugene's story the most interesting, which is fitting considering he was probably the most despicable character next to CC Baker. You'll find out why he acted the way he did.

Bottom line: An average book but necessary for those who wanted more closure after either reading or watching the events affecting the women who lived on Brewster.