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    John Woman
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    John Woman
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    John Woman
    Ebook424 pages6 hours

    John Woman

    By Walter Mosley

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A convention-defying novel by bestselling writer Walter Mosley, John Woman recounts the transformation of an unassuming boy named Cornelius Jones into John Woman, an unconventional history professor—while the legacy of a hideous crime lurks in the shadows.

    At twelve years old, Cornelius, the son of an Italian-American woman and an older black man from Mississippi named Herman, secretly takes over his father’s job at a silent film theater in New York’s East Village. Five years later, as Herman lives out his last days, he shares his wisdom with his son, explaining that the person who controls the narrative of history controls their own fate. After his father dies and his mother disappears, Cornelius sets about reinventing himself—as Professor John Woman, a man who will spread Herman’s teachings into the classrooms of his unorthodox southwestern university and beyond. But there are other individuals who are attempting to influence the narrative of John Woman, and who might know something about the facts of his hidden past.

    Engaging with some of the most provocative ideas of recent intellectual history, John Woman is a compulsively readable, deliciously unexpected novel about the way we tell stories, and whether the stories we tell have the power to change the world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Monthly Press
    Release dateSep 4, 2018
    ISBN9780802146410
    Unavailable
    John Woman
    Author

    Walter Mosley

    Walter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City. 

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    Reviews for John Woman

    3.5/5

    22 ratings5 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I made it to the 50% point of this book before giving up. The first 20% of the book was the background of how Cornelius Jones became John Woman. As a teenager Cornelius cared for his dying father, murdered a man (but wasn't caught) and had a lot of sex with a much older woman (a police officer who should have been arrested for statutory rape, but somehow wasn't). After the death of his father, it took a rushed 2 or 3 paragraphs to describe the adoption of 2 aliases and his graduation from both Yale and Harvard. The next part of the book is the story of John Woman, associate professor of deconstructed history. His guiding principle came from the view of his father that "There is no true event, Cornelius, only a series of occurrences open to interpretation." I quit the book when John started having sex with a student. I should have known better, because I didn't like either of the 2 other books I read by this author. This is the last time I'm going to try. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
    • 5/5
      What a thought provoking book. Is history as we think we know it true? The question is much more complex than what I've just simply stated and honestly I'm not sure I always understood all the points that were being made. So the book has this philosophical bent but then complex characters and an underlying interesting plot so it hits all the bases. So well done and there could be a lot of discussion on what really happened at the end.
    • 4/5
      JOHN WOMAN is vintage Walter Mosley and more. This is an inspiring, dark, convoluted, and quirky story that traces the life choices of Cornelius “CC” Jones and his transformation into John Woman, a truly unconventional history teacher. He is the son of an Italian-American mother and Herman Jones, an amazingly well-read and deeply philosophical black man, who lives out his final days instructing CC in the true power, use, and misuse of history. To keep the family financially afloat, CC takes over his father’s job as a movie theater projectionist, which propels the young man into committing an unspeakable crime. To escape this world and the law, CC disappears and reinvents himself as professor John Woman, imparting his father’s teachings to his both willing and unwilling students. Always looking over his shoulder, he attempts to sidestep his sordid past while protecting his career from those who find him a bit too controversial. The writing is, as always with Mosley, gritty and poetic and the characters richly nuanced. DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Jake Longly thriller series
    • 3/5
      "John Woman" is a treatise on mind, race, history, morality, religion and murder. It did not engage my interest and I did not finish.I received a review copy of "John Woman" by Walter Mosley (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.
    • 3/5
      I was so happy to see this book in the bookstore. I have loved Mosley’s books in the past, especially the Easy Rawlins stories. I did not love this one though. I’m giving it three stars because I do think it had important and interesting things to think about in it. But no more than three stars because I also thought not one of the female characters was believable, and the whole thing just seemed a bit pretentious. Your mileage may vary.