The Confession Of Copeland Cane |
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BOOK
REVIEW by Willard Manus The new novel
by Keenan (Brother and the Dancer) Norris is the work of a
young African-American writer of power and potency. Norris is also a master
of black slang as heard on the streets of East Oakland, better known as
the hood. His hero, Copeland Cane V, grew up in The Rock, the nickname
of the Rockwood apartment complex which is being torn down by the forces
of gentrification and exploitation, much to the dismay of its poor but
hard-working black residents. Eighteen-year-old
Copeland is one of the luckier young men in the hood. Thanks to
his intelligence and prowess as an athlete, he wins a scholarship to an
elite private school called Piedmontagne. He lives a double life there:
spiritually he still feels loyal to his roots, even as he struggles to
function in the white world. Eventually he rejects the role his masters
have laid out for him, only to pay the price for having rebelled when
he is charged with taking part in violent protest rally. Cane flees arrest
and becomes a fugitive, hiding out somewhere in the sinister, dystopian
world of the 22nd century. |