Customer Reviews

Standing at the Scratch Line: A Novel

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I really enjoyed this book, and read through it quickly. It was great to see a strong, Black protagonist, who was willing and able to stand up to racism and brutality. I thought however, that King Tremain's showing up at many critical points in the book, repeatedly saving vulnerable people, or repeatedly destroying his enemies, was a bit too convenient. After a certain amount of reading, one could assume King was going to come out on top or show up at a critical moment. It would make for a great movie certainly.

I also wished the author, Mr. Johnson, or his editors, had been more careful with historical references, as there are a number of historical mistakes in the book. Some examples: there were no jeeps in WW 1, the Red Ball Express was also WW 2. The hand held machine guns mentioned so often as being used by King and his enemies immediately after WW 1 would have been nearly impossible to have as John Thompson's submachine gun was brand new and not widely distributed until later in the 1920's.

All in all, Standing at the Scratch Line is worth reading and is a good writing debut for the author. For those put off by violence, beware this book has a very high body count. It does however offers a slight break from the relentless violence at the end of the book. I look forward to a sequel.

This book was well worth the time, as it is a long novel. I, too, am in a book club, and we all loved it. Yes the first couple of chapters were a little difficult to get through, just because I'm not into war stories, but even that part grew to be very interesting. By the middle of the book, I felt like I knew King Tremain and if Serena hadn't married him, I would have. It was a very well written story where you actually felt like you were there with the characters. I laughed and cried through this book and have recommended it to everyone. I also just finished the sequel, Echoes of a Distant Summer - another outstanding novel. You must read it, because the story of King and his family is amazing and exciting!

I couldn't put the book down. The ending left me wanting more. I read the booking thinking that it was the first written by Guy Johnson, only to discover that this book was written after echoes of a distant summer to better understand the King Tremain character. My bookclub actually changed the scheduled reading so that we could read echoes as our next book.

I mainly picked up this book because it was written by the talented Maya Angelou's son. As the saying goes, the apple did not fall far from the tree. Guy Johnson definitely has his mothers gift of prose.
LeRoi 'King' Tremain was one of the most realistic characters created in a novel. He had anger, strength of will, love of family, his own set of morals/rules and a strong sense of justice. From the time he was growing up to his days as a grandfather, there is always a sense of honor involved in his life. He will not stand for disrespect nor to be called the n-word. He battles enemy soldiers, the Klan, hoodlums, etc and always comes out on top. There is a sense of pathos in his life as well because of the search for his older son who was left at an orphanage by an enemy. And the wife who betrays his trust even after risking all to save his life. I sure hope Guy writes another novel with his larger than life creation.

I too purchased "Standing at the Scratch Line" and didn't pick it up for a while (actually read several books in between) because the number of pages seemed daunting. I was also leery of not liking the book--the story, writing, etc., etc.

Well I was pleasantly surprised. I became totally riveted in the story in the first few pages. In some of the reviews I read the central character, "King Tramain," was described as an "antihero." What a misnomer! If anything he is an archetypical, larger-than-life hero of the kind many of us have not been introduced to within the historical context of Jim Crow, Northern racism and inter-group self hate and prejudice. I cheered this man at each stage of this story and liked him more and more as his story unfolded. Was he violent? Yes. Was his approach to the world necessary? Absolutely! Could a black man at the dawn of the 20th century survive and hold on to his wealth without standing up for himself, using violence, when necessary? I agree with the premise the author eventually sets forth in one of his later chapters-absolutely not.

This is a sweeping epic, powerfully told with panache by a good, solid writer. It is a great read, providing glimpses back into a world that had to be a living nightmare for our ancestors, and speaks anew about the survival of a race of people who had to endure extraordinarily vile, hostile and wanton violence at every turn. A must read.

Kudos and congrats, Mr. Johnson. Very well done!

After choosing this book as a gift believing it to be a "guy's" story, I was pleasantly suprised. It is a great saga. Usually these types of stories focus on a particular family or feature the women of many generations. Guy Johnson is to be commended for writing about a strong male character who cares for his race. I loved the variety of settings and the complexity of the characters. This novel should be made into a movie with Laurence Fishburne as King Tremain. Ms Angelou must definetly be proud of her son. I look forward to his next book.

Great book! I read it to my husband! Please include a Character Index in the next printing! At the Scratch Line will make at least three movies! I see my Dad and my father-in-law in King Tremaine. I can hardly wait to see a film version - would you consider Spike Lee? Hope to see you, Guy, in Detroit, soon! Ami D.