Looking For a Good Book

Woah.  I wasn’t prepared for this.

‘Coal’ is the only name he’s ever known – so named for the darkness of his skin. He’s been chained and beaten since the age of six, and he watched as his owner sold his mother and sister away. The only kindness he’s ever been shown was from a Swedish-American couple, Lars & Benta Munsen, in Coal’s owner’s hometown.

Solomon Pinkney has always recognized that there was something special about his slave, Coal. He’s seen how incredibly fast with a gun the young Coal is and he’s known that Coal would probably be the death of him, still, he’s tried to show the young man some kindness, thinking he’s been kind, anyway, when he gives Coal a gun and promises that he’ll be a free man upon his own death. But Coal has never forgotten any of the injustices that he’s been subject to.

Once freed, Coal journeys through the American Southwest and into Mexico, meting out his own brand of justice and experiencing love. When Coal stops a ruthless beating of an individual by a group of young men – killing most and severely wounding one as a warning – he meets a Mexican family who welcomes him, not a bit concerned about the color of his skin. They welcome him as a son when he marries the rancher’s daughter.

The rival ranching family has never forgiven Coal for killing their sons (the ones doing the beating) and take their time but ultimately get back at Coal and his new family with a raid that kills the women and children while the men are away. But Coal never forgets and dedicates his life to hunting them down and handing out his revenge.

I am always on the lookout for western fiction that isn’t by one of the big names and the blurb in this book (“The greatest Black American Western ever written”) really caught my attention.

This book was fantastic. Coal is such a great character. I feel like author Jason Grant really captured the strength and determination of a former slave who’s watched some terrible things in his life. This has desensitized him which is why he’s so able to commit such atrocious killings himself. But the balance with the love shown by the Munsens lends to Coal’s being able to trust and see the goodness in people. It’s quite a well-thought-out character development.

Somewhere around half way to 2/3 way through the book I had the sense that this was a bit of an odyssey or even a Don Quixote-like adventure with Coal going from one adventure to another. But just as I began to have that thought, the book settled in to Coal living with the ranch family. However, it remains just as violent.

Oh, and that violence …. This is what I was not expecting. This is one of THE most graphic, violent, books I’ve read in a long time. When Coal is out to get revenge he wants to make it hurt and he wants to make it last as long as possible, and therefore we get a lot of very disturbing vengeance. This book is definitely not for the faint of heart.

There’s a fair bit of sex here as well. somewhat graphic, but nearly as much so as the violence.

Still, nothing really felt gratuitous, which makes reading it enjoyable. We truly understand his rage through his actions and we follow his coming of age as he’s introduced first to sex and then to love.

All in all this was really a fantastic read. I was eager to pick this up each morning when I sat down to read, and I was eager to see what would happen next. I don’t consider myself squeamish, but this did push my limits more than once, so reader beware.

Looking for a good book? Coal, by Jason Grant was first published in the late 1970’s but is being reissued and it is definitely a book worth reading (if you can handle descriptive violence and sex).

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Coal

author: J. Jason Grant

publisher: Kensington

ISBN: 9781496755285

paperback, 289 pages