Seeking Salamanca Mitchell: A Novel [Paperback]

Kenji Jasper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2004

The thrilling new novel of crime, music, and redemption from the acclaimed author of Dark and Dakota Grand.

Benjamin Baker knew love for the second time when his eyes met Salamanca Mitchell’s. The first time was at age 11, when he’d sat down at a piano to play his first original composition. But both of those loves are nearly destroyed when he goes to work for Alfonse Mitchell, Salamanca’s father and a prominent soul-food restaurant owner with a secret criminal life.

Seduced by the lure of easy money, Ben joins Mitchell’s den of thieves, only to earn seven years in prison when the burglary ring falls apart. As his singing group goes on to stardom without him, and Salamanca struggles to raise Ben’s daughter while on the run from her own father, he can only dream of a waiting family just beyond prison’s doors. Ben and Salamanca must each travel different roads to get back to each other, fighting against their own fears and against Alfonse Mitchell, the most tenacious enemy of all.

Told in gritty, poetic prose, Seeking Salamanca Mitchell follows two passionate hearts through the trials that keep them apart. It is an exciting story of love and danger that cements Kenji Jasper’s reputation as one of the finest writers of his generation.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Survival is the name of the game in this gripping offering set in Washington, D.C.'s gritty inner city. Eighteen-year-old African American singer Benjamin Baker has two loves in his life: brown-eyed, caramel-skinned beauty Salamanca Mitchell and his upright piano, Cinnamon. Assuming the role of family provider after his police-officer father is killed in the line of duty, Benjamin goes to work for Salamanca's father, Alfonse Mitchell, the owner of a popular area restaurant and--unbeknownst to Benjamin--the leader of a prolific ring of thieves. Soon after Salamanca reveals that she is pregnant, Benjamin is framed for Alfonse's spree of crimes; he's sentenced to seven years in prison with no possibility of parole. Once Benjamin endures life on the "inside," he must find his way back to Salamanca, who is on the run from her father, and to the promising music career he was forced to leave behind. Following acclaimed novels Dark (2001) and Dakota Grand (2002), Jasper unleashes a taut, visceral tale of desperation and desire. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Kenji Jasper . . . understands the fears and aspirations of the young African American male, and is not afraid to expose the darker side of his hero’s personality in an attempt to make people sit up and think.”
—E. Lynn Harris

“The new images of the urban experience will be carved out by Kenji Jasper.”
—Ernesto Quiñonez, author of Bodega Dreams

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harlem Moon (July 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767916751
• ISBN-13: 978-0767916752
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,066,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, Daring, Suspense- Urban Fiction at its Best, November 9, 2004

By 

Dera R Williams (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seeking Salamanca Mitchell: A Novel (Paperback)

Benjamin Baker Jr., nineteen years old is a young man who is sure of what his future holds: A successful songwriting career, a lucrative contract for his group and a future with his girl, the beautiful Salamanca Mitchell. It is all so perfect. But the saying about the best laid plans..... becomes a reality when a monkey wrench is thrown into the mix.

Alfonse Mitchell is Salamanca's father and Ben's employer. He is a respected community leader in Washington D.C. and a successful restaurateur but he has a dark side and that side is revealed to Ben one night when he is asked to accompany Mitchell on a run after the restaurant closes. Before Ben can rationalize it all out, this son of a deceased D.C. policeman is caught up in a drama not of his own making. In short order, he is set up to take the fall for felony burglaries and is sent off to do seven years time, leaving behind a pregnant Salamanca.

In jail, he has convinced himself the music is no longer a part of him, his only lifeline is the letters and pictures he receives from Salamanca that lets him know of her love. Yet, she at eighteen must run for her life, fleeing from a madman, her father, who wants the memory of Ben Baker erased from their life, even the baby growing within his only child. Salamanca goes into hiding to Atlanta, and then to Detroit, her native home, changing her identity. It is there she faces the truth about the demons of her father when she visits the home where she last lived with him and her missing mother. As all the pieces fall together, she realizes that she is in it alone until Ben is released.

Ben gets through his sentence first by writing songs, then reading and keeping himself strong, living for the day he returns to his girls, Salamanca and now Sasha, his baby daughter. When he is released, his best friend Steve, now wealthy from the music that once Ben was a part of, picks him up from prison and takes him to Los Angeles. Steve's plan is to show Ben the kind of life that he could have if only he would succumb to the music he has left behind. But Ben has a one-track mind and that is to get back to D.C. where he is to reunite with Salamanca and Sasha. Alphonse Mitchell, who has been incognito for the last seven years, also heads to D.C. area. He wants to see his daughter and possibly tie up loose ends with Ben. A series of events sets off a suspenseful plot that keeps the reader on edge until the end.

With well-rounded characterizations and excellent writing exhibited, Jasper has a flair for vivid imagery and well-crafted language. Urban/hip-hop fiction is taken to a whole other level in this talented writer's hands, proving that the disrespect that that genre sometimes receives is not warranted in this case. This is literature period, at its best and this reviewer looks forward to Jasper's next adventure. Rating 4.5


Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Captivating Page Turner!, November 1, 2004

By 

L. Dean "preppyladyTN" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seeking Salamanca Mitchell: A Novel (Paperback)

I bought this book because as a charter member of a newly formed book club, I had to. I wasn't enthusiastic about reading it because the person that chose the book, choose it merely based on the book cover. With the looming deadline of the book club meeting, I decided to read the book as soon as I bought it as opposed to waiting until the week before the next monthly meeting. I attest, I couldn't put the book down! I read in 2 days! (very unusual for me) I highly recommend this book. This is the only book by this particular author that I have read, I must say that I am impressed.

3.0 out of 5 stars Seeking Salamanca Mitchell, April 4, 2007

By 

Ms. 90 (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seeking Salamanca Mitchell: A Novel (Paperback)

Jasper continues to show growth in his writing skills with this effort about an inner city young man who gets caught up in the fast life and his love for the lady who sticks by him through it all. More of the same thug-lite. Get it from the library.