Fortunate Son: Summary and book reviews of Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley, plus links to an excerpt from Fortunate Son and a biography of Walter Mosley.
Fortunate Son
by Walter Mosley
Hardcover: Apr 2006,
320 pages.
Paperback: Aug 2007,
336 pages.
New York Times bestselling author Walter Mosley’s novel about two boys, one ensconced in a life of privilege and the other in a life of hardship, explores the true meaning of fortune.
In spite of remarkable differences, Eric and Tommy are as close as brothers. Eric, a Nordic Adonis, is graced by a seemingly endless supply of good fortune. Tommy is a lame black boy, cursed with health problems, yet he remains optimistic and strong.
After tragedy rips their makeshift family apart, the lives of these boys diverge astonishingly: Eric, the golden youth, is given everything but trusts nothing; Tommy, motherless and impoverished, has nothing, but feels lucky every day of his life. In a riveting story of modern-day resilience and redemption, the two confront separate challenges, and when circumstances reunite them years later, they draw on their extraordinary natures to confront a common enemy and, ultimately, save their lives.
The tale is enjoyable but predictable to the point that it is best to read it as a sort of parable; but if that's the case, what exactly is the moral lesson Mosley wishes to impart? Is it that nurture is more important that nature, or perhaps that those who have life handed to them on a plate appreciate it less than those who have to fight for it? Or is it about prejudice and racism? Perhaps it's about all of that and much else. Then again, maybe Mosley just set out to write a story of two brothers and this is how it turned out! (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
By the time he ends the book, Mr. Mosley has compromised its allegorical bluntness by seeking a transcendence that eludes him. And the three-dimensional world is no closer than it was at the start.
Houston Chronicle
A coming-of-age story, Fortunate Son contains an unwieldy blend of ghosts, auras, sex, violence, murder, mayhem and love.
Chicago Sun-Times
It is a brilliant book, rumbling with life, scary and sacred and scented with everything that makes Los Angeles our best heaven and our best hell, a perfect backdrop for Eric's and Tommy's dream story.
Publishers Weekly
Starred review. Mosley shows how a certain kind of inarticulate, carnal, involuntary affection transcends just about anything.
Booklist - Allison Block
Starred review. Mosley weaves the themes of race, destiny, and redemption into an astonishing tale of unlikely siblings and unconditional love.
Library Journal
The writing is crisp and the plotting impeccable. Enthusiastically recommended.
Kirkus Reviews
Mosley makes his simple tale gripping through the studied artlessness of his storytelling.
Walter Mosley's books have been
translated into at least twenty-one
languages. His popular mysteries
featuring Easy Rawlins and his friend
Raymond "Mouse" Alexander began with
Devil in a Blue Dress. It was
published by W.W. Norton in 1990, and
was nominated for an Edgar. There
are now 10 books in the Easy Rawlins
series, most recently Cinnamon Kiss
(2005). Mosley has also written two
books about Socrates Fortlow and another
two about Fearless Jones, and at least
eight stand-alone novels written in a
variety of genres and prose styles.
With the City University of New York
(CUNY) he created a new publishing
certificate program aimed at young urban
residents - it is the only such program
in the country. He also serves on the
board of directors of the National Book
Awards, The Poetry Society of...
A finely nuanced, universally resonant portrait of the ties, however strange or awkward, that bind two brothers and their families together through the decades.
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