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A review by deathbedxcv
Cotton Comes to Harlem by Chester Himes
2.0
DNF 148/160) “This mother-raping cotton punished the colored man down south and now it’s killing them up north.”
I did not finish Chester Himes’ “Cotton Comes to Harlem” because although it is incredibly written and has that suspenseful hard boiledness to it, its relaxed use of the word rape and how it treats female characters is concerning. A book that put together the ideas of a detective novel and race relations in 20th century Harlem, sounded really really cool, but ultimately it falls extremely flat when it comes to female characters. I’m sure there’s counter arguments, but at the end of the day the cons outweighed the pros for me.
The novel was made into a movie of the same name starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx. So I def want to watch that.
I did not finish Chester Himes’ “Cotton Comes to Harlem” because although it is incredibly written and has that suspenseful hard boiledness to it, its relaxed use of the word rape and how it treats female characters is concerning. A book that put together the ideas of a detective novel and race relations in 20th century Harlem, sounded really really cool, but ultimately it falls extremely flat when it comes to female characters. I’m sure there’s counter arguments, but at the end of the day the cons outweighed the pros for me.
The novel was made into a movie of the same name starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx. So I def want to watch that.