Customer Reviews

Fortunate Son: A Novel

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

A moving, emotional and captivating story about family. You know that saying blood is thicker than water, its not true. For a long time I've known that family is what you as an individual define it as, not who you are born to or how you are born. This story is about a family, truth, knowing who you are and that your future and how you live it is all up to you. This story about two brothers, who are not brothers, shares with us the true meaning of brotherhood and what it really means. I haven't been touched by a book in a very long as I've been moved by this, Mr. Mosley's finest piece of literature. Mr. Mosley has penned a narrative that says who ever in this life, you decide to call family, its a very good thing. Take it, keep it and be proud of it. Just read it and you'll understand.

I absolutely loved this book! I was into it from the beginning. From Thomas' problematic birth to the end of the story. What a life Tommy and his brother lived. I felt like a fly on the wall imagining everything happening. What a tough, but inspiring life Tommy led. His trials were tremendous and yet he overcame them all. Eric's love and need for his brother was unexpected with his fortunate life. This book brought tears to my eyes. I cannot imagine the trials that Tommy experienced. What astounds me is that there are many Tommy's in "real life". I really look at homeless people differently now because of this book. I could go on, but I'll end by saying: "You owe it to yourself to read this book".

"His heart was as disconnected as hers," expresses it all. "Fortunate Son," is a story of the disconnected. Brothers by fate, Thomas Beerman and Eric Nolan are two beings in contrast. For everything Eric is, Thomas is not. There stands Eric in all of his glory taking things in stride. While early on, Tommy's life takes a harsh turn, as he is ripped from the bosom of his loving adopted family and it seems that he is alone in a world bent on bringing about his demise.

With each page that I turned, my heart grew heavier with worry and sorrow. What was to become of Tommy? He was an innocent and life was so unfair. Was a break just beyond the next page? Faring better in the world, Eric does not realize how good he has it and through the years there is always something missing, a void, he is incomplete and reaches for Tommy, the brother from his past, only Tommy cannot be there.

Reading "Fortunate Son" is like studying the brush strokes that comprise a powerful painting. Each word is stated with purpose and takes on a message of power and deliverance. Based on his or her perception, experiences and mindset, each reader will take away something different. This is a sorrow-filled read of substance. Walking with Tommy through his trials and tribulations forces one to pause and appreciate what is within reach. We remember that each day we rise is a glorious one and with inner strength, we can overcome and make it to the next if we dare to press on.

Marian E.
APOOO BookClub

I think it is one of his best yet. It took me day and a half to read. It told you how a young male child was able to make in this crazy world. You ask your self could I, have done all the things that Tommy, did and make it. Read it for your self you will have tears in your eyes.

Mosely is an inventive, creative writer in the best sense of the word: he creates unique, new worlds in his books. Here he has made something of a fable, what feels like an other-worldly tale of two "brothers"- the dark and the light. Thomas: the intuitive one, the nearly saintly, passive one. He accepts, surrenders to life's most horrible twists of fate. Stolen,abandoned, beaten, imprisoned, raped - he cannot hold a grudge. He is "brilliant"- literally - there is a light around him. I associated him with the archetypal artist, the true artist, for whom everything - the good, the bad and the ugly - is grist for his mill. He's also something of a saint, in the tradition of Dostoevsky's Mishka - "The Idiot." Seemingly simple and guileless, everyone who is around him for any length of time is influenced by his goodness - everyone falls in love with him and never forgets him. That includes his high-octave white "brother" Eric, his exact opposite. Eric seems blessed from the start unlike Thomas, who had a hole in his heart at birth. Rich, gorgeous, a sexual dynamo, athlete - people fall at his feet; a god, "lucky." As the book progresses, however, it becomes apparent that Thomas is the lucky one, because he has a beautiful soul that allows him to understand life on a far deeper level than the "golden boy" Eric. I found the novel a bit too grim for my taste in parts, and then too magical for me in others. But still - I could not put it away - and when it was over, I missed Thomas especially. "Fortunate Son"is a great contribution to
contemporary literature.

Walter Mosley is a master storyteller. This tale of true brotherhood held me captive until the last word. Never have I experienced such an emotional rollercoaster. I found myself praying for all the Tommy's who walk our streets, often invisible to those of us that are priviledged. This was my first Mosley read, now I have to go back to read everything he wrote before this. Bravo!

Rebeccasreads highly recommends FORTUNATE SON: A NOVEL as a riveting, raw story of modern-day resilience & redemption. It will stretch your mind about racism, privilege, contentment, fate & loyalty.

Two boys, born within hours of each other from different families, are raised, for the first years of their lives, together. Eric is white, handsome, takes his privileged life for granted & is cursed with a vile attitude. Tommy is black, unwell, good natured & feels lucky for every day of his life.

When tragedy strikes their makeshift family, the boys must separate. Years later, they get back together & face down an enemy that will test their different natures.

Note: there are no plot giveaways in this review as it is the first reader review and I don't want to spoil your discovery.

I just read The Wave and was tremendously disappointed in it as a novel (might have fared better as a short story.) The heart of my problem with it was not the new-agey stuff, nor the lack of a satisfying plot, but a certain sketchiness to the characters, a shallow, generic feeling, unlike what I got from many of his other books.

So I was cheered by Fortunate Son whose characters reached out to me with all their flesh-and-bloodiness. Not just the central ones, but others too, especially the cast-off few who join Lucky in his secret garden. I am just coming down from reading this book and have still to ponder its ultimate meaning, but I felt that an underlying theme the editorial reviews did not pick up on is the stark depiction of the world the brothers live in -- intolerably unjust and empty and ruled by tyrants. There are moral imperatives for those who live in this world. This is both a charming and disturbing book and, with its vibrant characters, sense of place, and pivotal action might make a cinematic gem if brought to the silver screen.

There's wondeful, compelling writing in Walter Mosley's latest--but ultimately, I can't help but believe that if a lesser name had written it, the reviews would have been significantly less enthusiastic. The exposition is often impossible to follow, with characters introduced later in the book given elaborate backstories. The rhythm of the book is often a bit off. It feels like a great early draft of a book that really needs an editor to help sharpen it, thin out what doesn't work, and push the author into greatness--because there's a great book in here waiting for some rewriting in order to escape.
For greatness, turn to Mosely's Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.

Upper middle-class widowed white doctor falls in love with Black single parent woman. Their two kids and Vietnamese housekeeper briefly have a wonderfully melded family. Then mom dies, and the absent father insists on custody. Tommy (a/k/a "Lucky") quickly begins a descent into the hell of urban Los Angeles. Abusive father, drug addicted mother, drops out of school, gets a "job" as a runner for the local drug dealer, gets molested by a customer, who he kills (accidently), witnesses the suicide of his friend from the streets, hooks up with a teen mom, and is able to support the "family" through his drug "job." However, Tommy is wounded in a shootout between the police and his drug dealing boss, and ends up in court, charged with felony murder. Sent to juvenile prison, he is raped and abused repeatedly by older, more violent boys--until he is transferred to a minimum security facility after a year--from which he promptly escapes. He spends most of the rest of the book wandering the streets of Los Angeles, homeless, broke, and illiterate.

In the meantime, his white "brother" zooms to the top of the academic pile, gets the girl, and generally prospers...but is terribly unhappy, and deathly afraid that each of his triumphs has come at someone else's expense.

They meet again, as Tommy intervenes in a shooting--Eric's girlfriend's ex-lover kills her, and tries to kill their kid--who is saved by Tommy.

In the end, Tommy saves Eric's self-image--and his life--by sacrificing himself, only to live. We are left with the moral quandary of who was the fortunate son after all, what does it mean to be fortunate, and is there really such a thing as "luck" when life is so pre-ordained anyway.

Tommy is a fascinating character--never meant to be realistic, but so real as to keep you engaged all the way through, turning page after page to see what comes next, and how is Mosley going to pull off bringing everyone back together again. The ending is contrived--but so is the whole book. It must be read as a fable or parable, not a realistic novel. Albeit, a fable built around a fabulously drawn character.