Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed

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Mumbo Jumbo
Available from Amazon
Price: $20.00
Updated on 11-9-2008.

Features

Audio CD: 2 pages

Publisher: ZBS Foundation (October 1, 2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1931654042

ISBN-13: 978-1931654043

Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches

Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces ()

Product Description
Jazz, voodoo, the Cotton Club, gangster, bootleggers, black mysticism, it's a kaleidoscopic view of Harlem in the 1920s. Dave Adams (Mojo) plays the voodoo detective, Papa LaBas. In 3D sound, with a cast of thirty actors: Black, White, Chinese, Latino, African, Haitian, you name it. Awesome with headphones. 2.5 hours. 2CDs

About the Author
Ishmael Reed, a novelist, poet, essayist, and activist, is the author of more than a dozen books. He has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth and is currently a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in Oakland, California.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Mumbo Jumbo (Paperback) This book is getting a bad rap from editorial reviews on this page--all seemingly from the same college English class who were apparently required to write reviews whether they had anything to say or made an earnest attempt at reading. (Thanks for the sharing your tantrums with us, Teach.) It's great. There's a story there, but it doesn't read like Aesop or Mother Goose. There are themes and messages aplenty, but not if you focus on your frustration with the look and feel of the book. As other reviews have indicated, there is a collage effect here. The juxtaposition of historical and fictional characters and situations is a tongue-in-cheek way of understanding how the dead white men of yore responded to the presence of an African cultural presence in the US despite myriad safeguards against it. In Reed's nothing-short-of-brilliant book, the Wallflower Order (guess which of the two previously described groups they are) get all bent out of shape because there's this "mumbo jumbo" "voodoo" dancing breaking out even in society's most prudish circles. Where did it come from? It "Jes Grew". And so it becomes--an epidemic! Anyone who has ever considered the question of "soul" will enjoy this book. Anyone who enjoys detective novels would really like this book as that is the basic style--but if you're coming straight from Agatha Christie, maybe do some decompression someplace before you dive in, 'cause it won't be as rigidly predetermined. If you go to an airport bookshop and see plenty formulaic bestsellers you'd rather read, stick with your conscience and do that. If you're ready to read a book that invites you to take part in the construction of the plot, this book is for you. If you want to have a good time as an *active* reader of a somewhat living text (consider, for example, how different printings of this book change), and if you can recognize a few simple conventions to give you guidance when the next page doesn't drag you by the hand to the next paragraph, get this book. Despite all the "postmodern" and "deconstruction" accolades for this book, one need not know what those words mean in order to thoroughly enjoy this book. The plot develops in a linear way, but rather than "this happened, then this happened," you get "this happened. This is happening. [a picture of something happening.] a headline: SOMETHING HAPPENED." There is still a chronological series of events, but you have to connect the dots as you go along--a skill apparently not best honed whenever the students who reviewed this book get around to their reading assignments. Characters are likewise reliable as in other books one might read. It's like trying anything new, though: the style of this book will require of you that you have enough confidence and perseverance as a reader to see what is there--if you'd rather gripe about how you'd prefer not to be actively involved in the reading, get Bush's catarpillar book instead.

Mumbo Jumbo
List Price: $20.00
Available from Amazon
Price: $20.00
Updated on 11-9-2008.