Customer Reviews

A Different Drummer

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the most deeply imaginative, powerful books that I have ever read. William Melvin Kelley, clearly a master of the English language, gets right to the heart of the human spirit, in all of its bravery and its desire for dignity. It is the story of one man's leadership and impact. This novel will make you want to rise up and strive to make a difference in your life and in those of others. It is a haunting tale that will stay with you long past your first reading.

This is one of the most deeply imaginative, powerful books that I have ever read. William Melvin Kelley, clearly a master of the English language, gets right to the heart of the human spirit, in all of its bravery and its desire for dignity. It is the story of one man's leadership and impact. This novel will make you want to rise up and strive to make a difference in your life and in those of others. It is a haunting tale that will stay with you long past your first reading.

Different Drummer set in a fictional Southern state is a story about a former slaver, Tucker Caliban who is a descendent of a legendary African slave. Tucker Caliban a black Southerner burns down his home and his fields seemingly for no good reason and then packs up his family and personal belongings to head North. Consequently this event leads to a revolution and several blacks in Tucker's fictional town start to follow.

This story continues the African American slave narrative genre by including the element of "storytelling." Kelley uses a nonlinear plot sequence folk aesthetic to portray this powerful story about the Civil Rights Movement. The setting of the story is a rural setting and the story is told from the perspective of several different whites and former slaveholders. Also adding to the power of the story is the use of nonstandard English/Southern dialect.

The major themes of this book are slavery vs. freedom and also the quest for identity. Throughout development of the plot it became clear that Tucker had a clear motivation for his rebellion. Tucker Caliban's journey from the South is about searching for his true self, his identity as an African American without the remnants of slavery associated with living in the South. The story brings in the viewpoint of several characters including his former slavemaster and a character by the name of Reverend Bradshaw who becomes mixed up with Tucker Caliban's rebellion and is used in the book as a scapegoat. Kelley's writing style and careful plot make this a very interesting read.

Kelley's book, set in a fictional state in the South, beautifully captures the complex relations between the races in America. Told from the perspectives of various white characters, it tells the story of farmer Tucker, descendant of a legendary slave. The book stirs complicated emotions when describing the tale of Tucker destroying his farm and moving with his family out of the South, an act of defiance that starts an exodus of the black population of the state, crippling the white economy. Caught up in the confusion is a family of so-called enlightened whites, who had once employed Tucker and his wife. The characters are intricately fleshed-out with flashbacks, including powerful stories of one-on-one relationships; Tucker's friendship with the family's young son provides a particularly stunning and painful vignette about the boy learning to ride a bike. A black preacher from the north who is drawn into the mess after Tucker's migration is a poignant example of a racial scapegoat, pick a black, any black. The subtleties of the many characters make this an engaging and powerful read, as important now as when it was first released.

Kelley does a great job of describing the inner thoughts of each character, as he offers different perspectives. he draws up a bunch of interesting characters. His ideas about a conflict that is improtant as any other, in our country's breif yet rich history, are well thought out,and well represented. Perhaps the value of this book is best represented by Revrend Bradshaw's character. This gripping character, full of intricacies, also works in the rest of the book. This book is flowing with power, significance and thought.

The book a different drummer takes place in a lot of different peoples perspectives. Every chapter someone else talks about there life. it is very confusing. I would not reccomend this book.

I dislike writing poor reviews for living authors. After all, authors pour time, sweat, and emotion into their work, which does not deserve to be answered with vituperative attacks from readers for the sake of displaying intellectual plumage. It takes years and great personal risk to write a novel. It takes 20 minutes and little risk to write a book review. On the other hand, what is a reviewer who is not honest?

I did not like "A Different Drummer." The writing was stiff, the characters leaden, the plot unbelievable and forced. Surprisingly, for a Civil Rights novel, there was not a single, powerful, three-dimensional African-American character. Only two distinct black characters emerged in the book: a college-educated maid who meekly throws down her education and independence to follow her monosyllabic and single-minded husband, and a corrupt minister from the North who is covered with fancy jewelry and rides in the back of a limo. The protagonist, Tucker Caliban, was a mute automation who acted for no apparent reason.

The central problem of the book revolves around the main event, the mass exodus of blacks from the fictitious southern state. The synopsis of the book elegantly sums up this central problem by describing the book's protagonist, Tucker Caliban, as "...a quiet, determined descendant of an African chief who for no apparent reason destroys his farm and heads for parts unknown..." It's that "...for no apparent reason..." that really messes with the plot. There's never a decent explanation for the exodus. It's taken for granted that leaving the South will also solve problems of persecution, violence, and segregation, as if no conflicts occur in Boston, Chicago, or Los Angeles.

And basically I disagree with the premise of the book. In effect, "A Different Drummer" is a rejection of the early Civil Rights movement and its reliance on educated, middle-class African Americans for leadership. In the book, Reverend Bradshaw represents the corrupted leadership. He's Harvard-educated, cognizant of philosophy, and a former Communist Party member (when, in the 1930s, being a Communist was cool) who sold out for money and adulation by turning to the lucrative career of religion. It seems that Reverend Bradshaw is loosely based on Bayard Rustin, a famous Civil Rights activist, former Socialist and Communist, who organized and raised funds for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s SCLC. And the author's criticism of the fictitious Reverend seems to be a criticism of Rustin's involvement with King.

Instead William Melvin Kelley calls for spontaneous action from the mainstream black population in the South. He urges them to free themselves. To take their humanity back. In the book, the characters do this by destroying their ties to their fettered and enslaved past, and abandoning their present lands.

But why should African Americans have to destroy their current identities to be free? Shouldn't they fight for their inherent rights as human beings and citizens of the United States? Shouldn't they work to transform, not themselves, but their environment?

And who now would argue that Martin Luther King, Jr. was not integral to the struggle for Civil Rights? Who would argue that middle-class leadership in the Freedom Rides, for example, did not help raise sympathy for the civic and social oppression of African-Americans throughout the country, throughout the world, among blacks and whites alike? And who would now argue that blacks would be better off fleeing their oppressors and settling in the inner-city ghettos of the North than to fight for their rights at home?

"A Different Drummer" written by William Kelly is a fictional story that illuminates a real American topic. The topic of racism and finding self identity communicate the historical socio-culturial differences between Black and white lives in America. Kelly uses the subject of racism in everyday life to expose the subconscious minds of both Black and white america (this, the quest for idenity for both races). This story touches on the mental effects that life in America imposes on society. For white and Black America, William Kelly's "A Different Drummer" uses the real life topic of racism to dig deep into the cultural acceptance of Blacks society. Kelly tells this story using a fictional slave narrative in a non-linear voice to express the events of this novel.
This novel is set somewhere in the deep south in the early 1960's. The Black and white races are clearly seperated. These races exist together only as a function of society. White Americans and Black Americans know no more about each other than that of themselves. Whites in the south allow their ignorance to convince themselves to understand the other race through their efforts of folktale and misconceptions. A white character, Mister Harper, tells a story of a great African who was massive in size, strong, and dominant with independence. As Mister Harper tells this story to his peers who are mental and physical oppressors. We (the reader) are exposed to the mentality of the white community. The difference in Black and white culture, and the lack of wanting to respect and understand each other, perpetuate the confusion and rage within each race.
It is understood that the main character is Tucker Caliban. He is a quite man who finds himself through time and evolution (this is his quest for idenity). It is a feeling inside his soul, it is a feeling inside his peers souls that tell them that the way they are treated by whites in the south is totally unacceptable and will never change. It is Tucker's independence and realization of self that allow him to manifest the strength to cut off his relationship with the white south. This novel shows that the awakening is not limited to only Tucker, but it extends to all Black people in the south. It is a universal awakening that allows all Blacks in the entire state to rid themselves of their mental and physical bondage. Consequentially, the whites in this community contiue their lives in the same ways, mentally unaware of what is really taking place. The whites only observe the exodus of Blacks. The white community has yet to realize the situation, yet to visualize their violent ways. It is this hate and this rage in the south that ignite this cultural-socio awakening. It is this awakening that will continue to fuel enlightenment and independence within the Black community as the drum continues,as the drum beats on,,,,drum,drum,,drum,DRUM,,,,D R U M,,,,,,,,,,,,