Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby: A review

I really am not sure how this book ended up in my reading queue. I must have read a note about it at some point that convinced me it might be something I would enjoy reading. It certainly isn't something that I would normally have picked to read, but I am trying to diversify my reading this year, so maybe that's why I included it. It seems to have been written for men who like fast, loud cars, and who really get off on driving them. It is basically a heist story and the main protagonist is a getaway driver extraordinaire. Nobody can catch him when he's behind the wheel.

That protagonist is a Black man called Beauregard "Bug" Montage. He has a checkered past, but now he's attempting to go straight. He has his own garage. He is a family man who is trying to take care of that family and set a good example for his two children. But he has money troubles and one of his former associates takes advantage of that. He offers him a chance to make one big payday. All he has to do is drive a getaway car once again. The job is a sure-thing jewelry store heist that promises a big payoff for everybody involved. Bug's back is against the wall and he feels he has no choice but to go for it. After all, nothing could possibly go wrong. Until, of course, something does.

Bug has a car that belonged to his father, a man who disappeared from his life when he needed him most, and whose ghost still haunts him as an adult. The car is a Duster. (I looked it up - it's an old model of Plymouth from the '70s.) Bug loves that car more than life itself. It's a juiced-up model that he has tricked out as a drag racer. When he runs in drag races he always wins. No one can touch that car. It would probably be worth $25,000 and his wife begs him to sell it in order to wipe out his debt, but Bug refuses. He'll take the job as a getaway driver instead.

The jewelry store heist turns out to be a bit more complicated than advertised. The jewels actually belong to a really bad guy and he takes offense at having his property stolen. Revenge is on his mind and Bug's family is in the frame as one of his targets. The whole thing gets really tangled and Bug has to agree to do another job to get himself and his family clear. The results could easily have been predicted by anyone who was paying attention.

There are some nice moments in the book. The core of the story is about father-son relationships, race, class, family, and identity. Some of this might have been developed for deeper exploration had this been a different kind of book, but the writer obviously had other goals in mind. His goal seems to have been to write a hard-driving, testosterone saturated gritty crime thriller, and, to some extent, I suppose he succeeded in that. Obviously, I was not the audience he had in mind for his book, but I expect the target audience loved it. And if you are up for such a story, well, here's your book!

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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