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Only the Strong
by Jabari Asim
c.2015, Bolden
$15.00 / higher in Canada
288 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
Never underestimate yourself.
You can carry the weight of 10 worlds on your shoulders and
still have time to do your job. You can lift spirits, move
mountains and haul out in a hot minute. You have more power
deep inside you than you realize – but, as in the new novel,
Only the Strong by Jabari Asim, you still have
weaknesses.
Lorenzo “Guts” Tolliver never had reason to show a soft
side.
Being soft, in fact, was detrimental to his life and his job
as right-hand man for Ananias Goode, who more-or-less ran
Gateway City. Softness wasn’t what you wanted a man to see
as you broke his legs or killed him.
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Well over six feet tall and looking like a tank, Guts was
deceptively fast of feet and fists, and Goode saw something
in Guts years ago that he liked. Through the decades, Goode
learned to trust Guts, and he liked him – so when Guts asked
to step back as Goode’s driver-body-guard-enforcer, Goode
gave his blessing.
It was, Goode knew, all about a woman.
He knew because he, too, had a woman he wanted but really
couldn’t have.
Years ago, when she was just 15, Dr. Artinces Noel watched
her Mama wither away from grief, and she promised herself
that she’d never fall that in love with a man. She
might have kept her promise to herself – work, charities,
her clinic, saving black babies from death-by-being-poor,
those were her life – but then Ananias Goode came around one
night with a stab wound that he wanted quietly stitched. One
thing led to another, led to a regular Wednesday session at
a local motel, but they couldn’t let anyone know.
Ananias Goode was still a married man.
Deep inside his well-appointed home, amid whooshing
respirators and the smell of antiseptic, the comatose Mrs.
Goode lay curled in a fetal position, a victim of the war
her husband had with another gang, a war that also left her
infant son dead. Remembering that, knowing it, was something
Ananias Goode lived with.
And for the man watching him, it was also something Goode
would die with…
Wow. Well, here’s the thing: I almost never read a book
twice, especially a novel. I’d definitely make an exception
for this one.
The most appealing thing about Only the Strong, I
think, was that it seemed as though I lived inside the story
itself, and finishing it felt like I’d been evicted. I felt
unmoored. Author Jabari Asim does that: he draws a reader in
with richly-worked characters who, though often despicable,
are attention-grabbing; settings that you can almost step
right into and flashbacks that move the story forward at a
perfect pace. That’s the kind of writing that sometimes
makes you forget that you’re reading a piece of fiction.
Yep: wow.
Though I generally don’t like to compare authors, Walter
Mosely fans will eat this debut novel right up. It’s noir,
it’s fast-paced, it’s hard-hitting, and it’s one you
shouldn’t miss. Only the Strong will leave you weak
in the knees. |
