ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250142
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: MARY ANN JOHNSON, BOOK PAGE EDITOR
THE WRECKED, BLESSED BODY OF SHELTON LAFLEUR. By John Gregory Brown. $21.95.
"The Wrecked, Blessed Body of Shelton LaFleur" is so rich in both language and substance that just treatment calls for pages, not paragraphs. The author, John Gregory Brown, is director of the creative-writing program at Sweet Briar College, and his students have the benefit of being taught by an extraordinary talent. His first novel, "Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery" was well received, and this one is sure to invite comparisons to many of our best.
It is the story of a black youngster in New Orleans, purchased as an infant by a wealthy but sickly white woman. Given the grand name of Shelton Gerard LaFleur, he flourishes in the white world for his first eight years. Then the fall. Shelton falls from a tree and is left a cripple. Misfortunes and blessings all seem predetermined as Shelton grows up and wends his way back to his roots. In the process he becomes an artist of national renown, and through descriptions of his paintings he renders a story of pictures that parallels his own life as well as the story of his race in America.
Other characters have distinct identity and purpose; particular mention must be made of Minou, the blind beggar who really sees. Shifts of voice from first person to third mark transitions between the present and the past, the child and the man. Religious references heighten the sense of interconnection, the belief that all that happens has reason.
Brown's artistry of words, images, and meaning is entrancing. Reading "Shelton LaFleur" is like standing before a great work of art captivated by the painter's accomplishment, awed by his technique and transported into his world. If this book doesn't win awards, prizes and plaudits then awards, prizes and plaudits are not worth winning.
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB