Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned - Hardcover

Mosley, Walter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786212683 ISBN 13: 9780786212682

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 1998

Synopsis

After serving twenty-seven years in an Indiana prison for killing two people in a drunken rage, tough, brooding ex-convict Socrates Fortlow lives in a tiny apartment in an abandoned building in Watts, struggling to make sense of the anarchic violence in the world and in himself

About this title

Review:

In this cycle of 14 bittersweet stories, Walter Mosley breaks out of the genre--if not the setting--of his bestselling Easy Rawlins detective novels. Only eight years after serving out a prison sentence for murder, Socrates Fortlow lives in a tiny, two-room Watts apartment, where he cooks on a hot plate, scavenges for bottles, drinks, and wrestles with his demons. Struggling to control a seemingly boundless rage--as well as the power of his massive "rock-breaking" hands--Socrates must find a way to live an honorable life as a black man on the margins of a white world, a task which takes every ounce of self-control he has.

Easy Rawlins fans might initially find themselves disappointed by the absence of a mystery to unravel. But it's a gripping inner drama that unfolds over the pages of these stories, as Socrates comes to grips with the chaos, poverty, and violence around him. He tries to get and keep a job delivering groceries; takes in a young street kid named Darryl, who has his own murder to hide; and helps drive out the neighborhood crack dealer. Throughout, Mosley captures the rhythms of Watts life in prose both musical and hard-edged, resulting in a haunting look at a life bounded by lust, violence, fear, and a ruthlessly unsentimental moral vision.

About the Author:

Walter Mosley is the author of five Easy Rawlins mysteries: Devil in A Blue Dress, A Red Death, White Butterfly, Black Betty and A Little Yellow Dog; three non-mystery novels, Blue Light, Gone Fishin', and R. L.'s Dream; two collections of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, for which he received the Anisfield Wolf Award, and which was an HBO movie, and a nonfiction book, Workin' On The Chain Gang. He is a former president of the Mystery Writers of America, a founder of the PEN American Center Open Book Committee, and is on the board of directors of the National Book Awards. A native of Los Angeles, he now lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Pr
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0786212683
• ISBN 13: 9780786212682
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 360