Easy Does the Hedonistic Calculus

Walter Mosley's second Easy Rawlins novel, A Red Death, spells out the utilitarian ethics that a black man living in the 1950s had to employ to survive. The novel reminds you that right and wrong are the provinces of the privileged.

Rawlins has been evading taxes on a rental property he owns-- mainly because he bought the property with illicit money from the escapades detailed in Devil in a Blue Dress.

He has to play everyone against each other in just the right manner to survive. The taxman, the FBI, a Communist instigator, white cops, Uncle Tom cops, his seedy property manager-- who I imagine as a black version of Danny DeVito-- and a number of gritty black folks from the neighborhood. His alliances shift as necessary, and though he detests the white world-- as he should-- he's also willing to look after himself and utilize those connections.

And the white world wants to utilize Easy, as he's a valuable source of information . . . a resource . . . a conduit into a world that even black police can't enter. Easy is generally savvy to all this, but he's also hot-blooded enough to start up with the police and sleep with his psychotic friend's ex-wife. He's a compelling mix of stupid and clever.

I also like the fact that Easy Rawlins does some serious drinking, and makes some serious mistakes while drunk. He's a man's man.

The plot of the novel is tangled to the point where at times I felt stupid (though it makes sense in the end) but the best part of the book is the portrait of 1950s California . . . it's LA Confidential from an African-American perspective.

I'm going to finish out the trilogy as a fitting end to my extended BHM Book Club. Anyone want to join?