The title - 6 stars

The book - 4 stars

This is the reissue of a book originally published in 2004, an epistolary novel between the writers in the title and then a fictional book editor and his assistant and an assistant to/intern for the famously racist Senator from South Carolina Strom Thurmond. Then add one assistant’s sister, an aspiring writer named Septic and brief appearances by the Senator himself. And start with the premise that Thurmond’s intern believes that Thurmond believes that Thurmond has done as much as anyone to shape African American history which, well, I guess if you look at it a CERTAIN way is not….WRONG?!?! And is Everett the black one?

This is as witty as one would expect. It brings to mind a parody I saw in “George” magazine where there was a meeting of Republicans running for President and Strom Thurmond says to Colin Powell, “I thought I told you to stay with the car.” Only writ large. Plus the writers send up publishing and the relationships that members of Congress have with their staffers. You probably know now whether you are going to think this is clever or not, and I thought the writers did a fine job…I’m glad it’s getting another push in light of the success of JAMES.

In this book, a reissue of the original from 2004, Percival Everett and James Kincaid skewer everything from racism in America to academia and more personal quirks than I knew existed.

While the authors are well known now they were considerably less so in 2004 which may be why I hadn't read it before now. I admit I expected Thurmond to be more specifically lambasted but he largely serves as a representative for the worst racist impulses of the country, as well as a mouthpiece to point out some uncomfortable truths, albeit cloaked in his ugly mindset. I think of it more as an over-the-top reflection of the dysfunction this country has long been suffering, even before the moron-in-chief took office again.

These are told in emails, texts, and other such forms of documentation, so it takes a little effort (not too much) to keep the plot (such as it is) straight since many of the pieces of documentation will have you laughing and forgetting the bigger (surreal) picture.

I would recommend this to readers who might like to ponder our country's ills, from personal to political, while also laughing. I also think you can read it simply as entertainment, even though the message will still play a part in the humor.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

This is what I imagine happened: Percival Everett and James Kincaid were having a rough day. Perhaps student essays were particularly bad or they were having issues with their publishers. One of them pulled out a bottle of bourbon. Good bourbon as a testament to their friendship. After a drink or three as they were continuing to lament about circumstances, they began to imagine the worst idea ever possible for a book. Strom Thurmond writing about the African-Americans made them both chuckle heartily. Then one of them said, "but wait! what about.....?" The reply, "oh yes! and imagine......!" Thus, this book was born. No you do not get any actual history and yes you should probably know who Thurmond was and his actual impact on Blacks, Blacks in the South, the history of racism, etc. The epistolary format works very well for the antics throughout this book. Sadly, it is as poignant today as it was when it was originally published over 20 years ago.