Customer Reviews

The King of Colored Town

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Darryl Wimberley's newest book was a rarity--a chance for one to live a life completely out of one's own experience. The narrative, told in the voice of an African-American woman coming of age in the segregated South of the early 1960's, is completely believeable. The theme, of the risks and rewards of following one's dream, no matter what the sacrifice, hardly allows for such distractions to the reader as work, meals, or sleep until the entire story has been told and savored. If you have not yet discovered Darryl Wimberley's fiction, this is an excellent start. If you have read his other works, you will appreciate how his gift has deepened since his first published work.

I pre-ordered The King of Colored Town by Darryl Wimberley back in January after a friend passed me a two-line, positive blurb about the book. By the time it arrived, I did not have any more insight about the author or the story, so I cracked the cover hoping not to be disappointed. This book turned out to be a true literary delight and one of my favorites so far for 2007!

The reader is transported to 1963 in the racially-charged Florida Panhandle region amid the Civil Rights movement. A teenaged dreamer, Joe Billy King, finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and is implicated in a church bombing. He flees Tallahassee to the backwoods of Laureate, FL where he meets Cilla Handsom. Opposites attract and the charms of Joe Billy, an outspoken, city boy, attract Cilla, the shy, bashful country girl who is struggling with a mentally ill mother and living in overt poverty. Their love affair is strained by the inevitable limitations of deep-rooted racism and local "good ole boy" politics.
It is ultimately crushed in a brutal and savage act of cowardice and betrayal. A man is killed, a trial ensues, secrets are revealed, and their paths diverge forever. Cilla escapes and becomes a classically trained musician while Joe Billy languishes in a penitentiary for the rest of his life.

To reveal more would ruin the plot; but I will say there is much, much more to the story than what I summarized here! I found myself immersed from the beginning and it appealed to me on many levels. One being that it was centered in a region of Florida that I am intimately familiar; I actually have (distant) relatives in the same geographical area. Another is that the novel's historical fiction aspects were rooted in realism. The school integration scenes and voter registration issues so heavily prevalent in the rural, segregated South were written with depth, passion, and clarity. The author really captured and communicated the mindset (fears, pride, frustrations) and differing points of views among the African Americans on these two very (at the time) controversial topics. Last, I found Wimberley to be a wonderful storyteller -- he set the scenarios perfectly, the characters were rich and full-bodied, the plot was clever and well-paced, the lyrical prose and dialogue were authentic and on point. It is highly recommended for those who enjoy literary drama and Civil Rights era pieces with a bit of mystery/suspense.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub

An absolutely great page turner. Kept me glued to the pages and I was sorry to get to the end. Wimberley knows how to keep the reader interested in the characters that he develops and the story he weaves. Great reading.

I just finished this extraordinary book, and was totally engrossed in the story line and well developed characters from start to finish. I highly recommend this book, undoubtedly the best book I've read this year.

BRAVO, BRAVO, Darryl Wimberley for a job well done!

Coming from a place of white privilege and the same age as the protagonist, I squirmed and rejoiced, cried and cringed in empathy with Cilla. This is a powerful book! It is difficult to read many parts of it, and it left me feeling very silly complaining about my dysfunctional family of origen...I have no doubt that there are women who suffered and survived a hellish existence to eventually overcome and vanquish some of their devils just like Cilla. I highly recommend this book!

This book is written when there was verbal and visual predjudice against the black community. The story is around a young black girl and her journey growing up. The trial and tribulations she goes through to become the great celebrity she ended up being. Parts in this story are tear jerkers.

This was my first purchase on my Kindle Fire, and I was quite pleased. It was an interesting read. First let me say that this is my first review, so bare with me. The King of Colored Town was a book that gave me a different view of life in the south in the 1960's when integration was beginning and segregation was at it's peak. The writer told the story from a woman's point of view, which suprised me, for when I got to the end of the book, I saw that the writer was a male. With that being said, I could appreciate the voice of the main character who worked her way through a series of events that would have broken many people, but she in the end finds her way back to her. All in all an enjoyable book. My Kindle first.

Touching, riveting story about life in a small town. Racial tension and fear pervade the town as this story unfolds. Great writing with interesting characters that will keep you turning pages all night. Sonya

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was good, the characters believable, altho it was sad.

I especially enjoyed the author's throwing in a word here and there that was new to me requiring me to find the meaning.

Normally I don't rate the kindle books, but this one deserved it.

This is one of my favorite books. I love this style of writing: Deeply developed characters, descriptions of place & era that take you there, writing in dialect, and unexpected twists & turns. My first Darryl Wimberley novel, but not my last.