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Books by Arthur Flowers
De Mojo Blues
/ Another Good Loving Blues
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Reviews of
De Mojo Blues
A Novel by A.R. Flowers Three black soldiers are dishonorably
discharged from the Vietnam War due to a mutinous "fragging"
incident. They return home resolved to take on the world, but
ambition and poverty begin to dissolve their precious
brotherhood forged in the trenches of southeast Asia.
To counter this growing fragmentation, the
hero-prophet of the group, Tucept HighJohn, inspired by a set of
mystical bones passed on to him by a dying brother in Vietnam,
undergoes "hoodoo" training in his isolated house on
stilts in a wilderness park in Memphis. His new self-mastery
enables him to relive his memories of Vietnam and to rally his
ex-companions-in-arms with a vision of the triumph of black
people everywhere.
This rich first novel about the Vietnam
inheritance of three black combat veterans, written in an
original, rhythmic prose, marks the debut of a gifted young
black novelist.
--Publisher
Weaving the experiences of the
veterans in war and in peace, Arthur Flowers forces us to
understand why the powerless become mythmakers trying to
determine their own destiny. De Mojo Blues portrays the
ugliness and violence of war, but it's a story told with humor
as only a brother can tell it.
--Rosa Guy
Art's jungle war scenes were so
vivid and dynamic that I literally craved more of them.
--Louise Merriwether
Arthur Flowers novel is a late
twentieth-century fable . . . not only a compelling tale of
several young black men fighting in a war on behalf of ideals
that are not honored in the country where they are not espoused,
but also a meditation on tradition, destiny, and the exercise of
mojo (power) as a healing force in a world poised for
destruction.
--Wesley Brown
Arthur Flowers is one of the most
serious, interesting, and blue deep artists to appear in some
time!
--Amiri Baraka
His fast wit comes at you from
every whichaway.
--Ishmael Reed
De Mojo Blues is a resounding
success. . . . Walk, run, get to the nearest bookstore and buy
this book.
--John Oliver Killens Published by E.P.
Dutton, New York, 1986 * * *
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posted Fall 2002 / update
27 June 2008 |
