Hell of a Book: A Novel

What’s it about?

In this story we follow a writer as he tours the country promoting his book. It is a “hell of a book” but he can’t seem to remember exactly what it is about. His mind struggles with what is real and what is imagined. In the background, the story of young Black boy being shot and killed by the police seems to always keep popping up. We are taken along on this book tour and are witnesses as the author struggles with love, relationships, reality, and what being Black in America means to him.

What did it make me think about?

So much!

Should I read it?

Well, I have a profound admiration for Jason Mott. This is a hell of a book. Having said that- this book is probably not for everyone. It is a story to be admired, pondered, and discussed. If you are looking for something light I would not look here. However, if you choose to pick this one up you will undoubtably be moved. This book goes on a short list of stories that I may have admired more than loved.

Quote-

“He was a man who had been afraid of the eyes of others for all of his life. How could he not want his child to learn the impossible trick of invisibility?”

A hell of a book, indeed.

It's not often that I think a book is so important that I write in it, highlighting the best quotes. Read it.

Hell of a Book by Jason Mott 🖊️ This one goes out to all the writers. The creators of worlds. The consumers of alcohol as a proper food group. The ones who run from the spotlight, but can’t stop pouring themselves into what everyone can’t help looking at.  There’s a lot happening in this story, but for a long time you can’t put your finger on it. There’s a little boy named Soot who thinks he can make himself invisible, an unnamed author who wants to be invisible, and a kid who may actually be invisible in more ways than one. Jason Mott does a great job of giving us a protagonist at arm’s length. The unnamed author travels indolently across the country on his book tour, celebrated but annoyed, accomplished and confused, unfriendly yet unable to shake a mysterious kid who just wants to hang out with him and be seen.  Someone has died, someone has been killed, someone is still figuring their lives. The trick in this magically enchanted hell of a book, is to look in the mirror and try to figure what it’s all about.  📚 Reviewed by Danielle Boursiquot, moderator. #thisbrownegirlreads #tbgrbookclub

The way this book unravels, the way this book carries the author's tale is very creative. Following the two stories (alternating in each chapter), it carries the conversation of Black Lives Matters in the eyes of a BIPOC as both a first person and observer. The parallels of the storylines lets the reader feel like the story is familiar but at the same time leaves a lot to the imagination and realism that the author questions throughout the book.