Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022--San Antonio

Hell of a Book by Jason Mott was the winner of the National Book Award in 2021.  As a novel, it addressed two aspects of the lives of Black people in American--the recurring tragedy of Black men being murdered by cops or, if not, being arrested and going to prison at an unjustifiable rate for unjustifiably long sentences, and that laws may have been passed to try to make lives for Black people equal to those of whites today, but that lives of Blacks are not equal to those of whites--that Blacks living today suffer from injustices that have been ingrained in society since the time of slavery and that it is unfair for whites to say otherwise.  As a white person, this book clearly made sense of the dilemma faced by Blacks living today and the need for Black parents to have "The Talk" with their children, especially their male children.  It was uncomfortable at times to read this book, and I found myself setting it down more often than I do with other novels.  But I always came back to it because I realized how well it is written and how important it was that I read all of it.  As with other readers, I found myself confused and wondering at times who was who and what was what.  The last chapters, however, bring it into focus.  I rated the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.