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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9781416549154
ISBN number: 1416549153
Label: Atria
Manufacturer: Atria
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: November 06, 2007
Publishing house: Atria
Sale Popularity Level: 190097
Studio: Atria
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Product Description:
The author of the bestselling memoir Makes Me Wanna Holler presents a profound debut novel -- in the tradition of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities and Zadie Smith's White Teeth -- that captures the dynamics of class and race in today's urban integrated communities.
Nathan McCall's novel, Them, tells a compelling story set in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood known for its main street, Auburn Avenue, which once was regarded as the 'richest Negro street in the world.'
The story centers around Barlowe Reed, a single, forty-something African American who rents a ramshackle house on Randolph Street, just a stone's throw from the historic birth home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Barlowe, who works as a printer, otherwise passes the time reading and hanging out with other men at the corner store. He shares his home and loner existence with a streetwise, twentysomething nephew who is struggling to get his troubled life back on track.
When Sean and Sandy Gilmore, a young white couple, move in subsequent door, Barlowe and Sandy develop a reluctant, complex friendship as they hold probing -- often frustrating -- conversations over the backyard fence.
Members of both households, and their neighbors as well, try to go about their business, tending to their homes and jobs. However, fear and suspicion build -- and clashes ensue -- with each passing day, as more and more new whites move in and make changes and once familiar people and places disappear.
Using a blend of superbly developed characters in a story that captures the essence of this country's struggles with the unsettling realities of gentrification, McCall has produced a truly great American novel.
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Rated by buyers 
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The storyline was interesting but the delivery fell short. The characters were one-dimensional and the plot was predictable.
Rated by buyers 
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This is a true to life book. People often move into a neighborhood and try to change it.
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As a "white, liberal urban pioneer" I was anxious to read this book, as I was genuinely interested in seeing how an African-American author would present this issue. Many of the situations ring true and some were eerily accurate representations of events in my neighborhood -- the cool urban coffeehouse, the house tour with banners, weekday late-night porch parties with loud voices and music, public urination. Been there, done that. I bought my house because it was a beautiful work of architecture with great bones and fabulous potential that we could afford. We're not rich, but I'm sure it seemed that way to the neighbors. What is missing in this book is the bridge that helps to understand the cultural gulf that separates us. How do you solve problems when no one is telling us why they value specific things they consider to be essential to the fabric of the community? Unfortunately, the characters were thin cliches that never had the conversations necessary to shed some light on the subject. The importance of home-ownership becomes clear to Barlowe, but its significance as a wedge in an "emerging" neighborhood is never fully explored. The people moving in aren't just white, they're homeowners and the majority of the existing residents aren't just African-American, they're renters. It's not about skin color. It's about money and the assumptions and expectations that go along with it.
Rated by buyers -
With its corner store, house of ill-repute, and elder residents, the Old Fourth Ward is home to many characters - some crooked, some straight - and in the middle is Barlowe Reed - the hard-working, short-tempered, trying to get himself together type of brother.
As this community of mostly Black residents begins to change and more of "them" move in, one of "them" (Sean and Sandy Gilmore) moves subsequent door to Barlowe. While Barlowe develops a civil relationship with the female neighbor across the fence, his relationships with his Black neighbors become strained. Tensions begin to mount as the Old Fourth Ward becomes the neighborhood of "us" versus "them" as "they" seek to make changes in a place that doesn't feel "their" kind of change is necessary.
This book started off with a bang, but by the time I got to Part 3, it fizzled. I had grown tired of reading. I can't explain why as I thought the story was good, albeit predictable, and a nice change in reading material for me. The main characters (Barlowe and Sandy) and secondary characters (Tyrone and Sean) were interesting and developed - but stereotypical to some degree. You really kinda knew what they were going to do/say. I don't know why I didn't like this book more, however, I'd recommend this if you're tired of reading relationship fluff and want something with a little more meat on its bones. 3.5 stars!
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Nathan McCall graciously attended a Literary Police book club meeting in March. The conversation was intense. You'll understand why when you read Them, the author's very first novel after his much celebrated, Makes Me Wanna Hollar.
The main character, Barlow Reed is an angry dude. Mad at everything and everybody. When a white couple moves subsequent door to him this sets his ire in a whole new direction. I won't go into the whole story as it's already detailed in other reviews. What I would have rather seen in the book is a relationship between the two male characters (Barlow and Sandy's husband). I think this would have really been more dynamic. I never felt there was a connection between Barlow and Sandy and their coming together didn't ring true for me. There was never any reason for either of them to take interest in the other, but yet here they are each day talking over a fence. Other than that, I truly enjoyed the story and look forward to reading this author's subsequent work.
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