Ten Seconds [Paperback]

Louis Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1991

novel on athletics by young New Orleans writer

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Once a high school track star, Eddie is now a refinery worker, husband, and father of two. As he sits in the stands at his old school watching a ten-second race, Eddie's thoughts flow forward and back to reveal intimate details of the young black man's life. We see the old fears provoked by fights between his parents, his horror on seeing his best friend die in an accident, and his love for his wife, which is persistently undermined by his compulsive infidelities. This first novel displays considerable skill in characterization and elegance in style. Its main flaw may be a needlessly elaborate structure in which each chapter of the book's second section corresponds (for no apparent reason) to one second of the footrace.
- Albert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Louis Edwards deserves the highest praise for creating a human portrait of a black male as compelling and sensitive as it is rare in recent American fiction."--Charles Johnson

"Louis Edwards' Ten Seconds is a very readable first novel, ingenious and gracefully written. It is also very disturbing. . . . Edwards is effective without overt, clichéd attacks on the system; absent are strident denunciations."--Maurice Bennett, Washington Post Book World

"Ten Seconds is classic in its intimate portrait of maleness, softspoken and secretive. . . . Ten Seconds is filled with beautiful insights about what goes on between men, the subtle communications, rather than backslapping or jostling. . . . This is Louis Edwards' first book and a fine debut, testament to believing and thinking about living. . . . A perfect 'Ten'."--Fatima Shaik, New Orleans Times-Picayune

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Graywolf Press (May 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555971504
• ISBN-13: 978-1555971502
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,522,016 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 A Joycean discourse on the tribulations of Black America., July 26, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Adam Loewy) (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ten Seconds (Paperback)

Louis Edwards, in the esteemed tradition of Joyce, Wolff and John Edgar Wideman, delivers a tour de force in his first novel "Ten Seconds". With remarkably swift yet extremely provocative prose, Edwards recounts the life of a young African-American man attempting to ground his identity in the south. Using a Joycean technique, in terms of the cyclical structure of the novel (based on ten seconds of a 100 meter race), Edwards captivates the reader from page one. Once you pick this, you will not put it down until it is over. Wonderful!

4.0 out of 5 stars A Silver Medal, April 11, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Ten Seconds (Paperback)

Louis Edwards coming out party into the literary world was a success. The work had a great resemblance to Richard Wright's earlier novel Rites of Passage. He took on a great challenge in his book. Edwards spoke of the forgotten average black male. He is a part of a new generation of writers who are finally embracing this group of black males. He filled in the gap between the Protaganist in the book Invisible Man and Bigger Thomas in Native Son.

The best story in the book was the conversation between Eddie and his wife in the kitchen. I loved the way he gave the reader both voices of the story in a non-chronological way. The way he described the different points of view was breath-taking. Eddie was trying to put his mark on his women, while his "woman" viewed the act as second degree masturbation. This concept was seen in both of the previously spoken of books, but Edwards put this relationship in the concept of marriage where the average black man currently abides.

This book's longevity is only in the hands of Edwards if he can come back with a more insightful work. All in all a great book.

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's not get carried away. Good, but needs polish., April 30, 2002

By 

Branden Born (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ten Seconds (Paperback)

Comparisons to Joyce et. al. are made too lightly. I was drawn to the book by a review on NPR. The literary tool of the time loop, ten seconds of a race, is none too fascinating but is satisfactory. That's generally what I'd say of the book as well. I wasn't particularly engaged by the characters, and the story held my interest long enough to get through the book, but had it been a couple hundred pages longer I don't know... At least it's worth a read. Edwards shows promise, and I would expect better things from him in the future as he matures as a writer.