Lucius - Softcover

Lieberman, Matthew A.

3.5

6 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1984186523 ISBN 13: 9781984186522

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018

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The adventures of an old man and his imaginary slave. Set in today’s Atlanta, Benno Johnson -- ninety years old, White, born and bred in the Jim Crow South -- tells the story of his almost lifelong relationship with Lucius Cincinnatus Jones, his slave. Benno's parents give him Lucius as a gift when he’s about ten. An only child, he becomes inseparable from Lucius -- through childhood capers, college, and adult life. Now in an old age home, Benno relates their story to Mordecai “Tree” Weissman, a successful fifty year old northern transplant who volunteers at the home. Benno’s tale focuses on a particular three day stretch that starts when Benno and Lucius set out on a short canoe paddle from Benno’s riverside home in Atlanta. The trip runs amok and leads to three days during which Benno (and Tree) discover a lot about what it means to be Black, White; free, slave; and innocent, guilty or complicit in today's America. And also something about friendship, loneliness, growing up and aging.

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Review:

"Throughout, Lieberman's prose is confidently informal and anecdotally intimate in a way that courts the reader's trust.... [T]he book is a deeply original meditation on race and friendship. It's impossible to gainsay Benno's devotion to Lucius, and their loving camaraderie does raise provocative questions about the nature of devotion. This inaugural effort is rather brief--short enough to be considered a novella--which makes its artistic and philosophic depth all the more impressive. A startling look at race relations in the American South." - Kirkus Reviews

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