Customer Reviews

Rough Amusements: The True Story of A'Lelia Walker, Patroness of the Harlem Renaissance's Down-Low Culture

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Just finished reading this great great book of which I truly wished the author had taken it further and delved into waters unknown by including along with the story the true behind the scenes machinations of the book and all that went with it. This book is excellent and beautifully produced as well. A must must have for all librarys and a huge clue to black history. (I never rage about a book, but this one was GOOD!)

It is not very often that you discover a fascinating and exciting book by accident, totally unaware it even existed, and it enters your life like a cool breeze after a hot and humid summer day. You're thrilled, you're excited, and you find you can't tear yourself away from it until you're finished. This is the situation I found myself in right from page 1. Novelist Neihart has given us an entertaining story based on real events and people, but has taken liberty with some of the scenes and action in recreating these historical events for us.

It's the real life story of A'Lelia Walker, the daughter of Madame C.J. Walker who became a multimillionaire by selling personal-care products to African American women. The story is based on the life of A'Lelia, how she used her inheritance after her mother died, and the flamboyant characters she surrounded herself with. She threw elaborate, celebrity-filled parties in her Westchester mansion and 136th Street apartment. The story centers on the 1930 lavish drag ball, where female impersonators and the underground gay culture existed in all its splendor and sexuality. We are introduced to such figures as; Langston Hughes, the poetic genius, Nancy Cunard, the shipping heiress, Richard Nugent, Harold Jackman, and the most tragic figure of the drag ball, sexual addict Jennie June. There is more revealed about this fascinating character than any other in this story, including A'Lelia's. That Jennie June is a major part of the story is fitting as she is the most compelling and interesting of all the people portrayed.

Neihart has created a magnificent view of the Harlem Renaissance and written it in a way that is entertaining, light, and easy to read. It was a rough & sometimes tragic time to being living, but as this story shows it was also an exciting time of parties, fun, and lavish entertainment. Never dull, never boring, it's a piece of history that will enlighten and educate you.

Joe Hanssen

...this book does not stick to the story of A'Lelia Walker. It veers wildly into the stories of a castrated transvestite, Jenny June, the poets Langston Hughes and Richard Bruce Nugent, assorted white gangsters. But A'Lelia's presence dominates the book, and it is a fast, celebratory account of one imagined night during the Harlem Renaissance's waning days. For a definitive account of A'Lelia Walker, you must wait for A'Lelia Bundles' bio-in-progress, and can also read her biography of A'Lelia's mother, Madame C.J. Walker.

This book calls itself an "urban historical" and I can see why they didn't want to be specific about that and add a NOUN to this adjectival phrase. Is it a novel? Is it an account of Walker's life? Neither, it seems. It is a weird juxtaposition of fact and fiction--and you can't tell what's fact and what's fiction. No notes or anything. Give this one a pass--even if you want an impressionistic account of Harlem Renaissance life. You'd be much better off looking at photos.

I was extremely disappointed when I read this book. Rough Amusements: The True Story of A'Lelia Walker etc. should be retitled as the True Story of Jennie June. If you want to learn more about Jennie June and [alternative] culture in New York during the late 1880's to the 1930's read this book otherwise pick up a copy of The Black Rose a much better fictionalized account of the life of Madame C.J. Walker and her daugther A'Lelia.