Esi Edugyan's "Half Blue Blues."

[Ian Thumwood]

Wondered if snyone else had read this book. I jut finished it and couldn't put the book down as I was intrigued to know who the mysterious second trumpet player performing with Heiro would turn out to be and to find out what happened to Heiro when Sid and Chip meet up with him over fifty years later.

Obviously Esi Edugyan has a huge love of jazz and is savvy enough to people her novel with the likes of the great Bill Coleman and the obscure Arthur Briggs (there is a great recording he made of "i'm in the mood nfor love" but I can't remember whose band it was with) as well as a sizeable cameo of a less-than- honourable Louis Armstrong. Whilst there is a degree of artistic license in the book , the characters seemed hugely credible both in their dialogue and the competitive attitudes of the jazz musicians. The book felt realistic with the petty jealousies and the descriptions of louis Armstrong's playing.

Here is some Bill Coleman (shame not clip for his brilliant "Joe Louis Stomp":-

[Alyn_Shipton]

Ian, the correct title is Half Blood Blues. How such a poor book ever got nominated for a Booker is beyond me. No grasp of any of the background to European jazz, a patronising attitude to the musicians (the poor hero in whose voice the book is written is portrayed as a simple half-wit) and a barely credible story about a single take of a 78 test pressing capturing a tortured genius amid Nazi persecution added up to one of the most irritating and unsatisfying books I have ever read. But most worrying about it is the dialogue. Not only is it unconvincing, but it is about as racially stereotypical as Amos and Andy...In short a ghastly book that ought to be avoided at all costs. For a better (and far more convincing) impression of the Paris scene, try John Wain's Strike the Father Dead...

[grippie]

Include me out.


(Samuel Goldwyn)