Book Review of Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

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336 pages, published June 2021 (I received an advanced copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

YOU MAY ENJOY THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE:

Literary Fiction * Social Issues * Novels by and about Black Americans

TRAVEL INSPIRATION:

Hell of a Book is set in the United States with large portions in small town, rural North Carolina. What this work of fiction best encapsulates is the experience of growing up Black in America, which inherently varies from person-to-person but with none left unscathed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jason mott

Hell of a Book is Jason Mott’s fourth novel, following on the heels of The Returned (2013), The Wonder of All Things (2014), and The Crossing (2018) in addition to two poetry collections. Mott has a BFA in Fiction and an MFA in Poetry from University of North Carolina - Wilmington and has been published in multiple literary journals.

Jason Mott resides in Southeastern North Carolina, the most prominent location in which this novel is set.

REVIEW OF Hell of a book BY jason mott

Hell of a Book. A risky decision, that. Like naming your child Charity and hoping that she doesn't grow up to be selfish. Like naming your child Grace and hoping she isn't prone to clumsiness. Like naming your child Dick and hoping he doesn't become one, as it were.

What publisher would risk publishing a book under this title? You can sure it is one who has a hell of a lot of confidence that this will, in fact, be one hell of a book. My verdict: a resounding yes. I loved everything about this novel.

Ah but to explain this novel, this amazing work of art, without ruining its greatest asset: the ever-unfolding journey on which the narrator takes the reader! The format. It is safe to start there. The novel alternates its chapters between two voices - a Black, adult male, who is unnamed, and a Black child whose peers stick him with the unwanted nickname of “Soot” due to the midnight darkness of his skin. For purposes of this review, I’ll refer to them as the “narrator” and “Soot”.

The narrator is an acclaimed author whose first book has been launched successfully and who is hopping around the country on his book tour. He has received an advance from his publisher for a second book and is overdue in sending along a draft. Of course, he has spent the advance and has no ideas for his second novel. He jets around from Any Town, USA to Any Other Town, USA, where he is met by handlers to manage his schedule and keep him on time. Early on, the narrator explains to the reader that he has a rare condition that blurs the lines between reality and imagination. Characters appear in his midst and interact with him, and he struggles to decipher what is real.

The narrator meets Soot early on and determines he must be imaginary; after all, no one else can see Soot. On the other hand, Soot is adamant that he is real and shares that he has his own special skill where he can make himself invisible. The reader is left to ponder which is more likely - that the narrator has entire conversations with imaginary people or that Soot has a special ability.

There is more to the narrator’s world than himself, Soot, and the book tour. He happens, as they say, to be a Black man in a white America. His publisher has warned him to stay away from Black topics that might turn off readers and to ethnically neuter himself. But there is a growing din in the cities he visits on his tour as protesters rise up against police killings of Black Americans. By the end of the novel, he is admonished by his publisher for not doing more ‘for his people’. He is asked to be everything and nothing at the same time. Where does that leave room for a self?

The imaginary - or real - Soot has had a troubled life even at an early age. He is mocked and ridiculed by classmates for the tone of his skin. His father is gunned down by police in front of his own home, in front of his wife and Soot. The descriptions of the flashing blue lights, the sounds, and the thoughts and fears carry a weight and deliver a vibrancy in this scene, elements that echo throughout the entire novel.

The narrator’s visions - or are they real? - speed up to a frenetic pace as the novel progresses and reach a zenith after he visits his hometown. The locals in his hometown are interested in his every move and start raising specters of his past, aspects of his life that he cannot recall himself. He is morphed into the representative voice of a Black man by the hero worship or his town, the pressure of his publisher, and the hungry public.

There are a multitude of important questions at the center of this novel. When your country doesn’t grant you full agency, who are you but the reflection of someone else’s needs, fears, and desires? When simply the body you were born into makes you a threat to others, what wrong turns does your life take? What lives are written and a heartbeat away from being unwritten for no good reason?

Mott explores these complex dynamics in an exploratory way and with beautiful language, storytelling, poignancy, and humor because yes, it is one hell of a book.