Devil is Fine
4/5

It is a little difficult to articulate my feelings about this book. From the first chapter of this book, everytime I would read it, there would be an uncomfortable pit in my stomach. Sometimes it was from the devastating relationship between a father and son, other times it was because of the heart wrenching discoveries made, and other times it was because I was annoyed at the main character. Here is the thing though, I really enjoyed this novel. John Vercher is an incredibly talented author with a gift for constantly making the reader question what is happening.

This story follows a bi-racial narrator after the tragic death of his son. The narrator is an author, who inherits his white grandfather's plantation. The plantation calls to the narrator and many difficult discoveries are uncovered there. This book is literary fiction with some light horror elements. There were many times that I was unsure what was reality while reading. I especially liked the horror imagery used as it related to the narrator’s body. The discussions the narrator has with his son through this book, especially towards the end are very moving but as a parent, also very devastating. While this book made me uncomfortable for most of it, the end did bring a feeling of peace. Overall a beautiful, thought-provoking read.

Thank you @celadonbooks and @netgalley for this ARC.

Find that place in yourself again where you were so brave you had to be rescued. @ 67%

The narrator of this story has lived a very contrary life and after his son dies, goes on a journey of self-discovery to find answers of why and who he is. He does this in a small waterfront town in "the northeast" where his estranged maternal white grandfather has left a waterfront property to his now late son and it reverts to him. While visiting this place, his property is found to hold graves of long forgotten slaves and he must decide what and where these remains belong whether in a museum to portray the slave experience in the conventional way or sent back to their birth country in Africa. But while he is in this little touristy town, he meets a gay black female bartender and one of her regulars, an old man, also black who will befriend him and help him navigate all of this. Meanwhile, he seems to be "visited" by a ghost who make him feel and see things from his past that he just has never had clarity to come to terms with--one of which is his strained relationship with his black father who showed him so little affection and that of his late son with whom as a dad he had a strained relationship. He talks to the ghost who he believes is Malcolm his son and he opens up in converses with him trying to explain and come to terms with their relationship in order to allow his spirit to rest in peace. Much of what he has dealt with over the course of his life is his being biracial and not knowing where he fits in. Happening all around him are the fringe movements like LGTBQ+, Black Lives Matter, #MeTOO and how these groups are trying to find a voice and a place in the world. The story is trying to find a voice for them so they won't be invisible or just the "cause of the moment" as is portrayed when the narrator loses his college job because his recent book is not "provocative" enough to sell copies and keep him relevant. If this really can happen to a college professor, that is truly horrible.
This is a very heady read and one that needs to be really chewed on. The mystical aspect of the book is more the narrator's conscience talking than real ghosts and goblins. The narrator goes through so much on a personal level in a very short amount of time though it would seem that things have been building up just waiting for the dam to burst. He is a recovering alcoholic, needing to take some pretty powerful antidepressants and has anger issues. He's a lot to take in, sarcastic (which the author thinks he is being funny) and I didn't like him all that much. I did feel badly when the reader finally learns the cause of his son's death and why it was so hard for him to relate as a dad to Malcolm but even that wasn't as satisfying as it could have been (there was more energy spent on his trips to the water or the pain in his leg from the jellyfish bites than there was with this important part of the book.) The overall theme and message of the book is very important and needs to be told but I just was not as committed to the story as I would have liked to be.
Thank you to Celadon, Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. These opinions shared are my own.

The was a beautiful book from start to finish. The man is in traffic stuck and on his way to his son’s funeral. He has a panic attack. He is. Biracial and has so many personal and social issues to deal with. He is a writer who may lose his job any day now.
Life is hard . Then there this property that his late son inherited.. Since his life is so turmotualous he decides to take time check out the property and try to get left back in order.

So well written and heartbreaking. The grief feels so eminent and strong, you can feel it through the book. However, the strange “freezings” of time and several other parts just fell flat for me and I got a little lost in the middle.

Wow, this was a great book!!
Devil is Fine dives into the life of a biracial man who inherits a plantation after the loss of his son. There are themes of grief, race, and identity. This is a literary fiction with some hints of sci-fi.
I thought the story was very unique! I don't read a lot of literary fiction, so this was a good addition to my small
'read' collection of those.
The grief was well done, and I appreciated the flashbacks to when Malcolm was young. I also admired the way that the conversation with late Malcolm was done.
I loved the relationship dynamics between the few characters present in the book, and I liked when the story would flashback to when the main character was young, too.
However, I docked one star because the language was distracting at the beginning. The diction was too complex for this story, and I felt that I was worrying about the meanings rather than the plot. This is just my opinion though, of course!!
Thank you to Celadon for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Such a touching and heartfelt story. Loved it. The dark humor only added to the pain and redemption of the past.

"Devil is Fine" by John Vercher is a novel about a biracial narrator who, while dealing with the loss of his son and criticism of his writing, inherits a plantation from his grandfather. The narrator's struggle with identity, loss, and artistic criticism weaves a complex narrative that captivates the reader. The unexpected inheritance of a plantation adds another layer to the story, forcing the narrator to confront a part of history that has personal implications for him. All these elements come together in a novel that is both thought-provoking and engaging.
The compelling narrative and skillful writing have earned the book high praise.
I want to thank John Vercher, Celadon Books, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing ARC.

❤️ Happy Reading!!! ❤️

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Devil is Fine, but it blew me away. It was a powerful story. Some of the atmosphere and the formatting (the photos etched into the words??? Hello??) gave the book an underlying sense of eeriness. This book tackles so many difficult themes without ever skipping a beat. The jellyfish/magical realism, “flashbacks”, etc were meshed together and woven into the story in such a way that I never got bored. I need to read more of this author asap.

Not to mention, the cover is immaculate.

Thank you MacMillan and Celadon for review copies of Devil is Fine; this is a beautifully moving story of loss but also resilience, identity, and race. I love a gentle ode to fatherhood as well, so many books examine parenting through the lens of mothers and Vercher's focus on the male voice, of a father, stands out and is important. The writing and imagery call to mind powerful writing from other writers such as Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and I was also reminded of Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom. I thought the examination of inheriting a plantation during a time of grief, the reconciliation of themes on race, land/ownership, and slavery and biracial identity were deftly done, allowing me as a reader to think about the ideas, to sit with them and examine them just as the main character does

Thank you to Celadon Books for the gifted eARC of DEVIL IS FINE by John Vercher!

DEVIL IS FINE follows a man who is dealing with the unexpected death of his son. When he hears from a lawyer that he has inherited a plot of land from an estranged grandfather he isn't expecting his life to be sent even more out of control with what is discovered in the dirt there.

This book is literary fiction with elements of horror mixed in and I think the author did a fantastic job of blurring reality and the paranormal. The body horror imagery was very striking and there were a few times where I absolutely had to go back a bit and reread because the imagery needed the extra time.

The narrator is biracial and there are a lot of good discussions on identity and belonging. The land he inherits has been passed down through the white side of his family, a plantation that has seen many horrors. The impact of this realization combined with the feelings of grief over his son's death all come through strongly from the page.

This was my first book by John Vercher and I will most definitely be looking to pick up more in the future!

This book was beautifully heartbreaking. The narrator is dealing with the immense grief of losing his son, while also being surprised to find out he inherited a plot of land. Due to being a biracial man, and this property coming from his maternal, white grandparents, with whom he did not have a good relationship, he struggles with the decision of what to do with the land.

The main character is a flawed and imperfect man, but someone you also fall in love with. He is real about his struggles and past mistakes, all the while trying to move through grief and loss. Add on top of this his ancestral burden of owning land that once may have been a plantation. To put it plainly, he's got a lot on his shoulders. The culmination of all of this is written beautifully and shows him to be real, and finally gives him peace.

All in all, I would recommend this book, as long as readers know it's a book to be read slowly, with parts that may need to be reread.

This book was both tragic and beautiful all at the same time and I'm so incredibly glad I decided to read it! It opens with the author speaking to his dead son on the way to his funeral. As a mother, this broke me immediately. We don't know how he was lost but the weight of much unfinished between them is palpable and you can feel the author's struggle with not only dealing with the obvious current tragedy but with letting go of all that was unsaid and left unresolved between them.

Struggling with his own identity as a biracial man, he finds that a piece of property, left to his son by his mother's father, has now been passed on to him as his next of kin when his son dies. This was a man he wanted nothing from -- his estranged white maternal grandfather. He then travels to the property simply to sell it and in the process finds that it is a former plantation and he is now the owner, a sick irony I can't even imagine.

He does meet some amazing people along the way and while I struggled to connect with him at first, they brought out the lighter side to him for me and I found myself warming to him quickly after that. His thoughts range from delusional drunken dreams to almost supernatural flashbacks, taking on roles that I can totally see as torturous ways your brain could try to deal with something as twisted as this situation he finds himself in. My heart broke for him, again and again.

A beautiful, tragic, moving story that I didn't want to end. Highly recommended!!

Pffftt. I didn't get this one. I felt pulled into the story then we got ghosts and jelly fish legs. What happened now?

Then sections in italics and Not me. I am glad I finished it - perfect ending - but I am not really sure what I just read. I think I'm just not the audience for this one.

The writing was beautiful and moving, I was completely lost in the story right from the start. It was achingly sad and compelling.

I have been provided with a review copy of this title from NetGalley for an impartial review. I was just drawn into this wonderful story and I just couldn’t get enough of it. It was just so easy to get lost in this great story. I just didn’t want it to end. I just lost myself in and I just couldn’t get enough of these interesting characters. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

DNF

The premise sold me on this one, but found the writing style and pacing to be a bit clunky. May come back and revisit one day, but for now, it doesn't work and didn't hook me.

DEVIL IS FINE is an intimate novel about loss, grief, and fatherhood, but also has sharp social commentary on race in America post-2020. Comps are made to Jesmyn Ward, but I also found similarities to Erasure by Percival Everett (which had been adapted into the Oscar-nominated film American Fiction). I also found similarities to Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley regarding repatriation and archaeology.

There are paranormal/horror elements, but DEVIL IS FINE is literary fiction at its best. Reading this novel was an emotional journey, and I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

I strongly recommend DEVIL IS FINE.

Thank you to Celadon for the eARC.

Devil Is Fine by John Vercher is an absolutely beautiful and moving story about a biracial American author grieving the loss of his only son. It is not only a story about dealing with grief, but it is ultimately about how we can work through that grief in order to continue living.

The narrator struggles with his identity, having dealt with the confusion and internal conflicts of being biracial. The turmoil he experiences is only complicated when he inherits a former plantation from his white mother’s side of the family and is forced to confront the painful legacy that comes with it.

Vercher does an amazing job writing a compelling story where the lines between what is real and what is imagined and the past and present are blurred. I absolutely loved how this book had many different elements to it. It’s an incredibly moving and emotional story with humor, heart, and sometimes weird and creepy dreamlike sequences. This book was an unexpected pleasure to read, and I would recommend this to anyone and everyone.

Huge thank you to Celadon for reaching out with the opportunity to read this ARC!

Wow! At first I found this slow, confusing, not sure what was going on. But it came highly recommended by the publisher, so I kept going. I am so glad I did. I ended up really enjoying it. This would be a great book for Book Clubs. So much to discuss! I was very engrossed about halfway through. I love Freddy and Clarence’s characters. I love how the ghost of his son helped him with his unresolved feelings towards his son. It took me a while to figure out where the beach even was! I grew up going to that area as a kid, so that helped me picture it beautifully. I loved the struggle with colonialism both in the past and present day, with windows into the past. I hope this book finds a wide audience. Very well written!

Devil Is Fine" by John Vercher is undeniably one of the most beautifully written books I've had the pleasure of reading. The author's prose is both eloquent and evocative, weaving a tapestry of words that resonated deeply with me.

Vercher's masterful storytelling prowess is evident throughout the narrative, and his unique writing style truly struck a chord with me. While the book delves into important themes, I was particularly drawn to the way Vercher handled them with sensitivity and depth.

As someone who doesn't typically gravitate towards this genre, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed "Devil Is Fine." It defied my expectations and left a lasting impression on me.

Overall, "Devil Is Fine" is a remarkable achievement that I wholeheartedly recommend to readers seeking a thought-provoking and beautifully crafted story. John Vercher's talent shines brightly in this compelling novel, and it's an experience that shouldn't be missed.