Mosley is one of the most unusual contemporary writers.  His style and choice of topics are mind bending and his take is slanted at a contortion not to mention his idiosyncratic language usage.  I came to appreciate his books only over the past five years or so assuming he was just another mystery genre writer.  He was also guilty in my mind of being overly hyped.  I don’t think that anymore.

I’ve read some of his series works without starting at the beginning which might put me at a disadvantage though is enjoyed them nonetheless but his one off books are transcendent though that might come across as overly fawning, my favorite was Debbie Doesn’t Do it Anymore which is about a prostitute in the throes of life changes.  John Woman also has a character with the same profession which is one of the few weaknesses of the book...it feels repetitive to the early book but that’s a side issue.  The odd title is offputting as well though, again, that’s a cosmetic feature.

John Woman is a history professor who’s survived, barely, an odd childhood.  In his early thirties he’s just beginning to take responsibility and realease the blame towards his dysfunctional background.  Mosley’s use of extreme plot devices are equally off putting and exhilarating.  He creates a shorthand encapsulating current social issues and how they impact society and individuals.  It’s a tightrope walk that made me almost afraid to look down while I worried to the last page whether he could pull it off or lose his audience to the stratosphere where we may not choose to follow him.  I’m actually still debating if he was successful or not.  It think this is the first of his books I’ve given four rather than five stars.
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Mosley does it again.  A thought-provoking, deep, and very readable novel. Fully drawn out characters that keep you wanting more.

After a slow start, John Woman turns into one of the finest Mosley books in years. Cornelius Jones is his father's caretaker, student, and stand-in, yet remains a mama's boy at heart. Loss, inattention, and tragedy experienced by Cornelius would destroy a lesser person, but armed with his father's stories, history, and books, young CC  morphs into the professor John Woman, armed with a perspective on history, both global and personal, uniquely built, and a danger to Those Who Write History.

John Woman boils down to several essay-length monographs from Mosley on the nature of history, its fallacies, and new ways to see the world that is and was, and are worth separating from the novel and studying on their own.

A fantastic read, and among his best. (advance copy provided by NetGalley for unbiased reaction)

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this book. It's about a man who becomes a professor of deconstructionist history. A somewhat strange story, but interesting. Recommended.

A most unorthodox novel from Walter Mosley. But as the master he is, Mosley is able to write across genres without any falloff from his usual focus. You the reader,  may never think the same way about the subject of history and its convention as useful and practical for study. Mosley delights with John Woman, the professor of historyish class offerings. John Woman is not his birth name, that would be Cornelius Jones, but after a bit of trouble he renames and remakes himself Professor John Woman. 

His predicament that causes the name change starts with him being a very loving son to an auto-didactic father, Herman Jones. The writing that fleshes out this story is fantastic with lots of references to books, philosophers and philosophy allowing the readers to experience along with Cornelius/John the brilliance of his father’s mind as he is dying at a  much too early age from heart disease. 

The teaching and insights gained are often of the unconventional type, like 

		“Nothing ever happens in the past,” Herman was fond of saying, sitting erect among the pillows Cornelius would prop up behind him. “The past is gone and unobtainable. It is more removed from our lives than is God and yet it controls us just as He is purported to do.” 

Or this gem of a lesson, “We all fade into the tapestry of the past,” Herman often said, “becoming like so many tiny knots in the weave of fine Chinese silk. There is nothing to distinguish you, me, or even who we might think is a great man. Time passes and we all diminish until the fabric of our age renders unto dust.”

This makes this novel so much more interesting than it would have been if done ‘conventionally.’ Mosley has packed a lot in these pages and the unpacking is challenging, intriguing and always fun. Not for the prudish, as there are some sex scenes that heat up the page. I don’t want to give away too much, so I’m being very reserved in how I write this review. Just know that the journey from Cornelius to Professor John Woman is lined with knowledge, inspiration and wisdom. 
	
		“All the books I have read swirl around like an ocean, with every page a wave. And now I drift in that vastness buoyed up by slippery knowledge, starving from want of anything with sustenance.”

The ending is a bit disappointing, only because it leaves more questions than answers but undoubtedly that is by design and I somehow believe that we will hear from John Woman again. Well done, Mr. Mosley. Thanks to Netgalley and  Grove Atlantic for an advanced DRC. Book will be available Sept. 14, 2018. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cornelius Jones has been educated by his father, Henry for most of Cornelius' life. Henry passes away and Cornelius is forced to take over his father's job as a camera operator in a silent movie theater. The theater is where he encounters the person who will change his life forever. Walter Mosley gives us a vivid picture into alternative history and the world of academia. Excellent writing as is to be expected from this author.

I found myself feeling like I was back in college. I really enjoyed this book, it hit upon a lot of the concepts and interpretations of history,  that I took to heart when I was a college student. Not overly preachy, but also not revolutionary in thought. I could not put it down, and the concepts of history Mosley employed were not new to me and he did not offer any new insights, but it was an easy read. It had  similarities to  "The Man in my Basement" and "Debbie Doesn't Do it Anymore" both of which I really enjoyed.