Juice!: The New Ishmael Reed Novel

"I thought about it. 'Well, somebody had to strike a blow for the return to common sense in the arts. You have the self-reflexive novels where the novelist interjects himself as a character. Novels like those written by that Ishmael Reed. He's probably out in some obscure hole in California right now, thinking of another way he by which he can badger himself into his work having been criticized for introducing himself as a character in his novel Japanese By Spring.'"

So begins a speech by the narrator of Ishmael Reed's newest novel, Juice!, in which the narrator rails against the post-modern. It's yet another crazy-ass book by Reed, a writer who has singlehandedly pissed off more of my students than every other writer combined. In fact, he pisses me off @ every turn, which is fantastic... just like this new book. The narrator is a political cartoonist who gets hooked on the O.J. trial as the novel follows it's progression over the last 15 years & reflects on how it impacted pop-culture in general & the media specifically. As a cartoonist, the book is filled w/ fun little images the narrator has published (these were actually created by Reed himself). As the last remaining American who believes in Simpson's innocence, he puts forth a pretty good argument, reminding us of many of the facts we've conveniently forgotten since the trial. His slam on Reed towards the end makes is pretty clear that the narrator & the writer don't necessarily share these views, but throughout the book, he seems to go back & forth. The point isn't about O.J.'s innocence or guilt but about how the media controlled our views even when the actual facts completely contradicted these opinions. While we see the fall out from O.J., we also watch the rise of cable news & (in typical Ishmael Reed style) the ways minorities are scape-goated to promote the interests of big-businesses.

He's been criticized over the years for being too "Black," which people see as a slight against women & other minorities. But while certain groups get marginalized by the narrator & other characters, it's clear that Reed doesn't actually sympathize with these portrayals. I wonder if these critics who accuse him of "playing the race card" have actually read the books or just read one another's reviews of previous books. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is one Er review from which all the negativity derives. Last week I read his 1976 novel Flight to Canada & I had the same feeling. If people really give him a chance, they'll see there's a lot going on. He's one weird dude... & I always dig weirdness. I'll be @ Nicola's this evening so you, gentle reader, should stop on in & pick up a copy for yourself. Oh, & if you follow that wikipedia link to the page about Reed, you can see all of the edits I made today... adding links, organizing the structure, fixing spelling errors, etc... good times indeed.