A Visitation of Spirits: A Novel [Paperback]

Randall Kenan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2000

"Marks the debut of a very gifted writer.... Kenan speaks eloquently and with a great deal of courage."--Gloria Naylor

Randall Kenan's daring and innovative first novel weaves a vivid and horrific tale through the generations of a black Southern family.

Sixteen-year old Horace Cross is plagued by issues that hover in his impressionable spirit and take shape in his mind as loathsome demons, culminating in one night of horrible and tragic transformation. In the face of Horace's fate, his cousin Reverend James "Jimmy" Green questions the values of a community that nourishes a boy, places their hopes for salvation on him, only to deny him his destiny.

Told in a montage of voices and memories, A Visitation of the Spirits just how richly populated a family's present is with the spirits of the past and the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Four generations of a black North Carolina family emerge in a novel that tracks a teenager's coming to terms with his identity. "Although shifts in time and tone are often jarring and sometimes gratuitous, the strength and richness of Kenan's best passages sweep any objections aside," wrote PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Randall Kenan continues [James] Baldwin's legendary tradition of 'telling it on the mountain' by giving voice to the unvarnished truth about blacks and homosexuality." --San Francisco Chronicle

"A gifted, confident writer." --The Raleigh News & Observer

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375703977
• ISBN-13: 978-0375703973
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #505,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning debut, underrated writer, April 17, 2000

By 

John McIntyre - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Visitation of Spirits: A Novel (Paperback)

Although this book is over ten years old, its currency is not likely to be questioned for many years to come. Kenan gives readers a peek into a rural North Carolina town very much like the one he was raised in. There we find the Cross family, generations old in this same small town, steeped in the traditions of the region. At last, a true black sheep emerges in the family, in the form of Horace, who we see struggling with his identity, from his bookishness to the biggest of all issues, his homosexuality. However, the tale Kenan tells is far from predictable; readers will not find the usual story of a young man coming of age under such circumstances. Instead, everything from family rivalries and resentments to teen angst make Kenan's novel a rich portrait of small town life, in addition to its undeniable status as an affecting tale of one of the most harrowing struggles a young person could face. In addition to a compelling story, Kenan is a true artist, as there are passages in this novel that left me awestruck. I honestly read parts of this book numerous times. I cannot find the superlatives to speak as highly of this book as I want to. Randall Kenan is a supremely talented author, and I truly believe that work like this will bring him much acclaim in the years to come. Ultimately, I leave you with one thought: Buy the book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant novel., December 6, 2003

By 

I. Sondel "I. Sondel - lover of the arts" (Tallahassee, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Visitation of Spirits: A Novel (Paperback)

"A Visitation of Spirits" is a portrait of Horace Cross, an adolscent both black and gay. This is an angry, often confrontational, novel dealing with the psychological ramifications wrought by religious condemnation, gross hypocrisy and clergy that myopically perverts scripture by preaching hate and intolerance.

The story is communicated through a series of recollections. Reality and memory coalesce in a nightmarish, drug-induced psychosis. "A Visitation of Spirits" is a haunting novel of a young gay man wrestling with his demons. His struggles are universal; his solution is, unfortunately, both tragic and final. This is a work of incredible depth,passion and understanding.

Randall Kenen, who won a Lambda Award for his short story collection "Let the Dead Bury Thier Dead," is an enormously talented prose stylist. He brings together the best qualities of James Baldwin, Carson McCullers, Toni Morrison and Flannery O'Connor. Higher praise could not be offered.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars insightful view of rural community life, September 9, 2002

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Visitation of Spirits: A Novel (Paperback)

This is a powerful novel with a complex construction that takes effort on the part of the reader - chapters occur in two series of events that are identified by date and time as well as "confessions" that review particular lives. The book's strength is in showing the successful rural black family's attitude towards whites and in showing the role of the church in their community. The plot line holding it together is that of a talented teenager unable to come to terms with his homosexual orientation, sure that it will damn him in the sight of God. The context for this self-damnation is set by his deacon grandfather who raised him and who counsels members of the community, his great aunts who assist in raising him who are mothers in the church, and his preacher cousin - the religion which runs through the family is a stern religion with the backbone that allowed his family to succeed.

Within this framework, we get wonderful prose describing the disappearing culture - house raisings, pig slaughters... - and the "new culture" of racial intergration. We see several generations attempting to adjust to the new world while retaining their family values. All in all a book well worth the time required to read and savor it.