Customer Reviews

Palace Council

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Carter's first novel, "The Emperor of Ocean Park," gained a lot of attention through its John Grisham endorsement and huge advance. Intrigued, I had to read it for myself, and found it to be well-written, intricate, and sometimes ponderous. I picked up a copy of "New England White," and found it to be much the same, but I didn't have the time or patience to finish that one, so I set it aside.

Despite that last hiccup, I dove into "Palace Council" and found myself immersed in conspiracy theories, great characters, witty repartee, and interesting glimpses into our nation's history. Carter takes his time drawing readers into the lives of Eddie and Aurelia, a rising black novelist and the woman he loves but who has married an upper-class politico. Eddie's heart is further tested when something happens to his sister. These events, along with the discovery of a body in a park, lead him on a lengthy chase through the corridors of power and the racial and political issues of his day. We meet Langston Hughes, JFK, Richard Nixon, and others. For those willing to forge through five hundred pages, there are numerous social insights and questions raised.

At the heart of the story, as in Carter's other novels, mystery abounds. If you're looking for a Lee Child thriller, though, this is not it. Some have the patience for this type of cerebral thriller, others have not. For me, it was a rewarding read, made all the better by the investment I had to put in. Now I'll go back and finish "New England White." I'm convinced that Carter will make it worth my while.

This is a big, sprawling novel whose reach exceeds its grasp. The characters are compelling, the settings are consistently interesting, the social milieu is fascinating, but the plot, after beginning with great promise, wobbles and shakes and finally crashes into a sort of incoherence. There's a conspiracy at the center of things, a vast, ambitious conspiracy, but instead of tightening and becoming more ominous as the book goes on, it becomes vaguer and more diffuse. There is an artificial feel to things. Characters seem to appear and events occur strictly because the author wants them to, rather than as a result of any organic storytelling. Mysteries are not adequately explained. Clues are apparently understood by the characters (such as when one of them knows where to look for some papers in a haunted mansion) but never shared with the reader. By the end you will be scratching your head and wondering what all the fuss (and 500 pages) was about. Still, despite all this, it is an enjoyable summer read, especially as a privileged look in on a genteel mid-20th-Century African-American society as it was breaking up and vanishing from the face of the earth.

Stephen L. Carter's PALACE COUNCIL story of Edward Trotter Wesley Jr. begins in 1952 and spans more than twenty years. Eddie, the son of a respected black preacher, grew up in a culturally and intellectually thriving upper-class Harlem he later captured, to acclaim but also to skepticism in books of his own: When Eddie's fourth novel, NETHERWHITE, was published, "The white critics praised its sharp satiric eye, not realizing that everything Eddie wrote about Harlem he meant literally. The critics did not believe, even after reading the novel, that a wealthy black society actually existed in the secret uptown shadows of their own." Not coincidentally, the same may be said of how law professor Carter's novels -- this one surely -- are greeted.

Eddie, after his youth in Harlem, graduated from Amherst and launched a splashy career as a writer of mostly fiction, about and appealing to the "dark nation," his persistent term for black America. Following the failure to win the hand of Aurelia Treene, "his unattainably highborn girlfriend." he, like another fictional character who is famous for comparing life to a box of chocolates, trawled through our recent history. During the fifties, sixties, and seventies he witnessed key events and encountered notables such as Langston Hughes, J. Edgar Hoover, and Richard Nixon (whom Aurelia knows as "Dick"). Although plot purposes sometimes distort timelines in PALACE COUNCIL, the civil rights struggle, the national turmoil of the Vietnam war, and Watergate served as backdrops for Eddie's colorful life.

These upheavals also formed the impetus for the formation of domestic urban guerrilla organizations such as the real Weathermen and the Black Panthers. Eddie focused on a radical group named Jewel Agony that he feared his vanished law-school educated sister, Junie, had run away to join.

While Eddie, over the years, grasped at any and all clues as to his sister's whereabouts, he was also very busy on other fronts: "Had Eddie Wesley been a less reliable man, he would never have stumbled over the body,..battled the devils to a draw, and helped topple a President." Basically, Eddie's run-in with a prominent white man's corpse set him on an enigmatic hunt to unlock the secrets of an elite cell of powerful men, both black and white. They shrouded themselves in symbolism and were less averse to violence in the name of their shadowy cause than Jewel Agony. Painstakingly, Eddie, in tandem with his true love, Aurelia, pieced together an outline of their long-term plan to somehow reshape American society from the top down. Who, then, belonged to this elite group? What was their agenda exactly? How would they implement it?

Carter's erudite prose and his ambitious plot at first blush ought to anchor this book among the summer blockbusters. Certainly, Eddie, Aurelia, and a few other characters stimulate interest in their plights. Yet, there is room for criticism. For all the words showered on them, they are not fully-rounded. For instance, Eddie is defined as a "great" writer often and rather pompously, yet his creative process is virtually absent from PALACE COUNCIL. And Aurelia seems to reveal her self to the reader quite transparently until something she did blind sides us. Because we do follow her quite intimately, it feels as if Carter has cheated; we thought we knew her, but we did not.

Even though a few plot twists may genuinely surprise, as just mentioned, not all will likely meet with reader approval. To muddy the waters, PALACE COUNCIL remains intentionally ambiguous about some aspects of the conspiracies, resulting in an unfinished quality. And I wish the lesson that Eddie had to swallow about his sister's fate and how she answered his faithfulness could have been more rewarding. I wish President Nixon had come off less like a Tricky Dick caricature, especially since he is portrayed as more civil rights-minded, whether out of opportunism or not, than biographies and histories document. Finally, I wish the book's structure had been tightened.

Nevertheless, Eddie and Aurelia and their labyrinth of a story will remain with me for some time to come. They seek to do right, even when they must sacrifice in that pursuit. They are fitted into a world view and circumstances that do intrigue. They are characters worth getting to know in the pages of PALACE COUNCIL.

Although I had heard of Stephen L. Carter long ago, this is the first book of his that I have read. As a Baby Boomer born six years prior to Mr. Carter, I have been living through and following the same historic, modern American events that the author has so explicitly integrated into his complex tale of intrigue. Palace Council displays a clever conceit similar to the one so prevalent throughout the movie, Forrest Gump, in which lead fictional characters intertwine seamlessly with famous figures and events in history. To compound the power of the story, the book is written with the same fascinating depth of family saga that made certain books from an earlier decade such bestsellers. Palace Council, in one way or another, aptly reminded me of Rich Man, Poor Man, Kane & Abel, and All the President's Men. With its plot encircling the interrelationships among Joe Kennedy, his legendary sons, LBJ, MLK, and the grand poohbah himself, J. Edgar Hoover, this book is certainly a second cousin to a lesser-known miniseries that I have always loved entitled Hoover vs. The Kennedys. The punch line is that Palace Council is as good as any of these famous, wonderfully detailed books and movies.

Whether or not you believe in conspiracy theories of one theme or another, I feel that most deeply thinking Americans have at least considered this fact. There have been many cases throughout the country's esteemed and infamous history in which, if a conspiracy was not afoot, then our great nation has been ruled either by insufferably long strings of consequence or notions of deep stupidity. I have long harbored at least a few thoughts toward the former simply because the alternative is far less fathomable. Palace Council is one of those poignant, yet on the surface fictional, books destined to pose as many questions about our history as it does answers.

Some reviews of Stephen L. Carter's previous novel, New England White, mentioned the complexity of the plot and characters of that book as a negative issue. Although I sincerely think the readers who will enjoy Palace Council the most are ones who are old enough to remember many of the events, the complexity of the plot or characters never even once left me scratching my head in confusion. Certainly this is not a book composed for morons, or even for those who think the antics of Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan are news, but is it too obtuse for the citizenry? Never. Palace Council is one whopper of a sophisticated, highly topical, thought-provoking novel. The plotting and editing are impeccable. The storyline is fascinating. Splitting the difference between political nonfiction published by numerous television talking heads and some of the best fictional, epic sagas, Palace Council impressed the hell out of this author and longtime avid reader. This book will reside on my bookshelf with some of my favorite fiction and nonfiction.

Having read Mr. Carter's previous books, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Palace Council in my local book store. From the first page to the last, I was fully captivated by the rich historical setting and fully developed characters that moved mysteriously throughout the novel. Although I consciously attempted to slowly savor every titillating word written by Mr. Carter, the story tenaciously lured me on to each page. I couldn't help but feel as though I was a fly on the wall of Eddie Wesley. The narration was palpable and the plot compelling. Accordingly, I highly recommend the Palace Council as a "must read". Especially if you have already read New England White and The Emperor of Ocean Park. It is evident that Mr. Carter has delicately established all of his characters, as they weave in and out of the three novels. I can only hope that he will release another novel soon, and allow us into the world of the elite "darker nation" yet again...even if we are already a member.

I'm a fan of Carter's, and he continues to have the gift of combining a fast-paced narrative with a rich tapestry of characters in a fascinating historical context. So I read this book avidly and enjoyed the process. Yet from the middle, the plot spun out of control (much like The Project that forms the mystery of the story). Too many details, too much confusion about motive and characters coming in and out of the story and hard to track. Reading the final chapters of the book became an anticlimactic exercise rather than a fitting denouement to the story's rich journey. Read if if you like to travel with Carter's prose, but don't expect to be satisfied with where he takes you this time.

Having enjoyed Stephen L. Carter's Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White, I was very excited to read Palace Council. Of the three books mentioned, Palace Council was by far the best.

Carter draws you into a heart wrenching love story of Eddie, a journalist, and Aurelia, a young socialite, who marries an upper class young gentleman who is more "suitable" for a woman of her stature. Then a dead body and later a missing relative are added to the mix.

Carter expertly weaves character development,conspiracy theory, and "history" that left me absolutely riveted to my seat. As Eddie finds a way back to his one true love and attempts to solve one of the biggest mysteries of Harlem's upper echelon, you meet Langston Hughes, Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover and others. By the end, the subplots have interestingly merged at some points. It is an interesting read without being cheesy and no, it's not all happily ever after.

I'm a reader who likes to feel like I'm there and with each nonfiction book Carter becomes better with when to provide detail and when to hold back. For those of you who have read Emperor or New England, you'll find some familiar characters, but be warned that their stories might have been slightly altered so they could make an appearance in this book's time frame. It's not disconcerting though because this book was in no way meant to be a part three.

i never read New England White; the reviews were so-so. I picked Palace Council up because i love mysteries and it was touted as such. It is much much more.

The walk through Harlem society was fascinating. Add JFK, Nixon, the FBI, and the CIA and you'd think it was confusing but the writing was so good it just pulled me in. Behind it all is the mystery of what happened to his sister. I couldn't wait to find out but the mystery took second place to the characters, settings, social games, Harlem's social but caste system, and the politics, I loved it!!!!

In 1952, twenty important men meet secretly to set in motion a scheme to own the President of the United States. Two years later, writer Eddie Wesley finds dead one of the plotters, white Wall Street attorney, Philmont Castle, in a Harlem park. Knowing how the police think about a young black man finding a white corpse, he hides his identity from the cops.

Intrigued by the victim's hand holding tightly an inverted cross with an enigmatic inscription, Eddie wants to know who killed the man, why, and why was a wealthy lawyer in Harlem. Over the next two decades Eddie and his beloved Aurelia Treene serendipitously investigate the murder of Philmont Castle with clues taking them to the highest powers of New York and DC while the Palace Council conspirators have reached the zenith in the early 1970s and will kill to remain there.

Although at times over the top of the Washington Monument, PALACE COUNCIL is an exhilarating action-packed political thriller starring real historical persona from Langston Hughes to Richard Nixon and two wonderful lead protagonists. The story line is fast-paced, but it is the strong cast (real and literary) who make this a superb tale as a variety of social issues like de facto racism replacing de jure racism is realistically portrayed. Fans will appreciate Stephen L. Carter's strong conspiracy historical thriller and seek his two excellent previous works (see NEW ENGLAND WHITE and THE EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK).

Harriet Klausner

My four stars (actually three and some change) break down to five for overall character development and a little more than one for plot. The plot, to the extent it could be logically followed in this long and ranging novel, was all over the place and never lived up to the liner notes. While I appreciate historical fiction as much as anyone (and more than most), Carter's use of real world events throughout the plot are almost Forrest Gump like. There is nary an event from 1952 to 1975 that doesn't involve the plot, if not the main character(s). Some issues related to time and place make no sense as in our hero Eddie Wesley traveling to Saigon to among other things cover the war as a writer, only to confront one of the story's antagonists "hiding out" there. I'm old enough to remember the Vietnam era and I don't remember too many elites traveling there to "hide out."

One positive of the book is its first half which richly describes the literary, poetry and music scene in 1950's Harlem. Carter describes the era in Gatsby-like settings; a pleasurable review of often underwritten period of African American history.

I would describe time spent with this book as a difficult investment that will pay dividends, but perhaps not where you expected; jamesmcasey.com.