Thursday, July 15, 2010

Throwback Thursday: Giveadamn Brown by Robert Deane Pharr

Throwback Thursday, an event hosted by Jenny over at Take Me Away Reading, is a new meme I'll be featuring at least once a month  It's the time to recognize those older books… an older book you’ve always wanted to read, or one that you have read and love; maybe one from your childhood; or review an older book -- how about even a classic!


Synopsis:  In this surreal dark comedy, Larry "Giveadamn" Brown is transformed from a country bumpkin into a crime kingpin when he inherits the Harlem dope and numbers empire of his Uncle Harry. Unable to match firepower with the competition - Sonny, a coiffed millionaire; Baby Doll, a 300-pound Jesus freak; and Studs, a ruthless lesbian - Giveadamn devises a shrewd scheme. His secret weapon: the Golden Fleece, a fantastical machine that defies all known laws of chemistry and physics. When word of it leaks out, Harlem is never going to be the same...

Though he's not as well known as Donald Goines, it's my opinion that if Goines is the father of the original street fiction, Robert Deane Pharr is the uncle of it.  Fans of the movie Cotton Comes to Harlem and Goines' work will thoroughly enjoy Giveadamn Brown.

Originally published: 1978

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