I Can't Wait On God - Softcover

French, Albert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822958325 ISBN 13: 9780822958321

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003

Synopsis

I Can't Wait on God is an unforgettable story of crime, punishment, and loss, set in the back alleys of Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood during the summer of 1950. Jeremiah Henderson and his girlfriend Willet Mercer set their sights on New York City after taking money from a pimp Willet impulsively stabs to death. Mack Jack, a gifted musician whose compositions were stolen by a big-city bandleader, struggles to rediscover his inspiration through the use of drugs.

About this title

Review:

It's the summer of 1950, on the eve of the Korean War, and Jeremiah Henderson dreams of trading in the slums of Pittsburgh for the high life of New York City. To this end, he proposes a spot of prostitution to his girlfriend, Willet, in order to get enough money to make the break. At the last minute, however, Willet can't go through with it, and her would-be john, a lowlife hustler named Tommy Moses, ends up dead. Albert French's third novel, I Can't Wait on God, is set in the same mean streets often visited by another African American writer, John Edgar Wideman, and it chronicles five days in the lives of the denizens there. While white cops collect clues, the black residents go on about their business, fully aware of who committed the crime but in no hurry to help solve it. Scenes set in the neighborhood and featuring finely drawn characters such as the pushcart vendor Dicky Bird and the street musician Mack Jack are intercut with Jeremiah and Willet's flight from Pittsburgh in Tommy Moses's stolen car. Murder, drug abuse, police brutality, and poverty are the challenges French's characters must face, but in the hardscrabble world he has created, the likelihood that they'll overcome them are slim indeed.

From the Inside Flap:

From the acclaimed author of Billy and Holly comes the trade paperback edition of I Can't Wait on God, "a valentine to the simple days when people led complicated lives but kept on living just the same." (Emerge)

The crowded joys and familiar despair of back-alley life in postwar Pittsburgh have a hold on most people there. Still, there are those who try--who need--to escape. Jeremiah Henderson and his woman, Willet Mercer, have set their sights on New York City, and for a time, it looks as if their dreams might come true. But making good is easier said than done, and after a moneymaking scheme goes awry, Jeremiah and Willet are forced to flee in a fancy new Buicl, leaving a trail of blood behind them.

Told over the course of five days and nights in the summer of 1950, this is an unforgettable story of crime, punishment, and loss. His richest and most affecting novel yet, I Can't Wait on God is a classic that confirms Albert french as one of the most talented and original voices of our time.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0822958325
• ISBN 13: 9780822958321
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256