Standing at the Scratch Line: A Novel (Strivers Row) [Paperback]

Guy Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2001 | Series: Strivers Row

Raised in the steamy bayous of New Orleans in the early 1900s, LeRoi "King" Tremain, caught up in his family's ongoing feud with the rival DuMont family, learns to fight. But when the teenage King mistakenly kills two white deputies during a botched raid on the DuMonts, the Tremains' fear of reprisal forces King to flee Louisiana.

King thus embarks on an adventure that first takes him to France, where he fights in World War I as a member of the segregated 369th Battalion—in the bigoted army he finds himself locked in combat with American soldiers as well as with Germans. When he returns to America, he battles the Mob in Jazz Age Harlem, the KKK in Louisiana, and crooked politicians trying to destroy a black township in Oklahoma.

King Tremain is driven by two principal forces: He wants to be treated with respect, and he wants to create a family dynasty much like the one he left behind in Louisiana. This is a stunning debut by novelist Guy Johnson that provides a true depiction of the lives of African-Americans in the early decades of the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

King Tremain, the badass central character of Guy Johnson's Standing at the Scratch Line, was born LeRoi and grew up in the swampy Louisiana bayou during the first part of the 20th century. It is only when he serves overseas during World War I, however, that LeRoi comes to appreciate the majesty of his name. As he should: fighting in the front lines with the "colored" 369th, LeRoi earns the title King. King takes his soldier's stance home with him and throughout his life kills whoever gets in his way, be they Italian mobsters or policemen. Not one for morals or rational contemplation, he lives by the code he relays to his army buddies during the war: "I just got two rules: be courageous and don't take no shit!"

In the course of tracking King's life, Standing at the Scratch Line crosses cities and decades--from New York to New Orleans to Oakland, from the teens to the '40s. King becomes a wealthy man, largely thanks to the opportunities presented by Prohibition. Handsome and strapping, he easily wins the heart of a Louisiana farm girl, Serena, who becomes his wife. Unfortunately, their love doesn't last long--even though the marriage does--because of tragedies involving their sons, for which he blames his wife. In King, Guy Johnson offers a character who responds aggressively to his time and place in history. He is a man of menacing proportions, with a justice system all his own. --Katherine Alberg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In the 30 years this lengthy debut novel spans (1916-1946), much blood is spilt and few lessons learned. The macho misadventures of its larger-than-life protagonist LeRoi Boudreaux Tremain-?aka King?drag the reader from the trenches of WWI to 1940s San Francisco, by way of Harlem and New Orleans. King, who whets his appetite for violence when he takes part in a family feud at the tender age of 14, makes a career as a killing machine and underground entrepreneur. Discovering a taste for shedding blood and a hatred for "American Whites" during combat with the all-black 369th Regiment in the fields of Alsace-Lorraine, King returns home to do battle with the mob, the KKK and law enforcement agents everywhere. Sometimes an avenging angel, sometimes merely an implacable force, King kills as briskly as the hero of a John Woo flick, only without the balletic grace. The glamour of his exploits?in killing, gambling, bootlegging and real estate?dissipates, however, when King's family starts to fall apart. His wife, Serena, undoes him through two illegitimate sons. One, LaValle, is conceived when she sleeps with a white racist sheriff to enable King's escape from captivity; the other, Leroy, is King's child by a New York woman, whose whereabouts Serena discovers but conceals from King. Leroy, left to grow up in an orphanage, causes a "curse" to descend on the family. The book unravels with tragedies of the domestic sort (deaths of relatives, miscarriages, car accidents), which, though cheapened by their frequency and a rather hokey voodoo cast, are somewhat appealing, if only as a break from incessant mayhem. Although Johnson succeeds in dramatizing the forces of prejudice and poverty, is perhaps an impossible task to sustain King's righteous rage, virtually a one-note performance, over so many pages.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Villard (January 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375756671
• ISBN-13: 978-0375756672
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.3 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best action adventure books I have ever read, July 17, 2002

By 

James E. White (Oak Park, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Standing at the Scratch Line: A Novel (Strivers Row) (Paperback)

I found this book to be exciting from start to finish. The story starts in Louisiana where "King" Tremain is still a teenager and goes with his favorite uncle on a raid of the hated DuMont property. The situation goes bad and young Tremain has to leave town to avoid certain death. Tremain joins the army and this is just the beginning. His adventures leads the reader through France, Germany, to New York, back to Louisiana, to Oklahoma, again to Louisiana and finally San Fransico. Tremain is a hard, determined man who is a highly skilled fighter who is no stranger to violence and death. However, he does have a strict moral code, and is a staunch believer in family and loyalty. Despite how he is able to evade death and serious harm throughout the book when it comes to dealing with his enemies, the same cannot be said for Tremain's family life. In some ways Tremain's family problems are a result of the way he deals with the his enemies. If you are the type of person who enjoys action adventures, where the hero overcomes all odds to right wrongs, etc. then this book is definitely for you.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Musings of a Former Bookseller, July 28, 2002

By 

CJ Smith (Harlem, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standing at the Scratch Line: A Novel (Hardcover)

I read lots of fiction by African American writers. Unlike some, I almost put this book back when I read the back jacket and learned Guy Johnson is Maya Angelou's son. The ONLY reason I persisted in buying it is because I'm working hard to read more books authored by African American males. When, in his introduction, Johnson paid homage to his editor, Manie Barron, I said "Aha!" I knew of Barron's dedication to bring more African American males to print. After the first four pages, I concluded both Barron and Johnson had found their mark. My persistence lead me through an exciting book that touched a theme I've never before seen in print. Yes, this is a page-turning action-adventure, but its strongest contribution is its representation of a Black man's struggle for respect. In order for the central character to win, he must employ the same tactics used by America's earliest entrepreneurs. Individuals unfamiliar with America's brutal business tactics or the Black man's struggle to prosper in business and therein leave some kind of legacy for his children, would do well to read a ficton-to-fact story where the central character does not turn the other cheek!

What is significant about Johnson's treatment is that his "I'll hit you back if you hit me," character is a lone voice in the anals of Black American fiction. I've never read a story that describes a Black man who murdered the bad guys and gets away with it! I am even forced to accept his characteration of the main female character even though I disagree with her actions; despite her betrayal of her husband's wishes concerning his offspring, her guilt prompted her to lead the raid that successfully broke him out of a confinement from a whites only enclave in a manner that would have frightened most Black folks then and now.

Johnson's work is empowering and militant and funny and sad. When his adroit style of writing described the band playing and the sounds of its respective instruments, I found myself tapping my foot to the music. How often has that happened to you?

I look forward to the forthcoming sequel.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Black Rambo arrives!, January 2, 2000

By 

"mrg2" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standing at the Scratch Line: A Novel (Hardcover)

If I were black, especially a black male, this book would probably be my all time favorite. Even though I'm white male, I still enjoyed it. Like his protagonist, the author doesn't pull any punches. He even gets in a couple of jabs at Clarence Thomas and Booker T. Washington by naming submissive blacks in the story after them. I've read several of the other reviews and agree with the comments about jeeps and the Red Ball Express being anachronisms (to put it politely), and I also found the easy availability of hand grenades and automatic weapons for the hero's use a bit too convenient. It would certainly make for a good movie, though, with all the explosions and mayhem. While the book isn't for the weak-kneed, I appreciated that the author minimized (usually) the use of foul language and did not resort to gratuitous sexual details to spice up the story. He didn't need to. I recommend the book.