Ebb of the river - Hardcover

Mears, Richard C

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671610325 ISBN 13: 9780671610326

Publisher: Wyndham Books, 1980

BLACKLISTED in 1980 by Simon and Schuster/Wyndham Books. Reason: "...racially accurate but tough sections disqualify it for corporate promotions." Racial division/environmental abuse plague the United States today as in 1945. Chase Ezekiel Kellum was raised on a small farm in Calvert County, Maryland in the '40s and early '50s. Kellum was known as ""Ebb"" in those days, a willowy - framed lad who found mischief on every corner and a purpose in every star. Listening to nature had inspired Kellum to an unorthodox life and led him through an unusual labyrinth of events that would culminate in what he termed""finding himself."" Nature became Kellum's steward, and he would recall events that would explain his eccentricities and metaphorically characterize a time between the years 1943 and 1945.

Kellum's favorite place on earth is Solomons Island, Maryland, acozy little fishing village nestled at the mouth of the Patuxent River where it flows into the Chesapeake Bay. He talks often in fond memory of ""a time"" and of his favorite subject, his boyhood chums, Fasso, an overstuffed Galiathan, who ""really"" has a good heart; Topper, an under stuffed, half-bred Powhatan Indian who believes everything Kellum says; Capt. Poe, the town's patriarch who teaches Kellum about life; and Bodecker (Bo), a black boy from Shanty who shows Kellum ""the other side"" of life.

Kellum explains everything in terms of childhood shenanigans -lessons learned and stored in that naive, carefree landscape of the mind. ""Bigger than life events"" he explains. Chase Ezekiel Kellum,better known as Ebb, is an orphan brought up by his stern, loving grandmother and uncle in a clapboard house atop Periwinkle Hill in the1940s. Ebb's life is an exhilarating series of pranks and chores,strawberry festivals and squirrel hunts. As we join Ebb on his rowboat trips down the river, or on his wide-eyed rambles thought the backwoods, we see a boy begin to grow up, to dream about the future and to make alife time friend in a young black boy, William ""Bo"" Bodecker.

The drama of the story comes with the arrival of the Barnum and Bailey Circus to Prince Frederick, Maryland when Ebb and Bo run away for a day to join the circus. It is this day that they learn the unjust boundaries the adult world imposes on an interracial friendship when they discover Chickabee Wilson, a black man who has taken a job in aside show as ""the ghoul."" They witness the man locked in a cage and fed live chickens. The black man is virtually enslaved by circumstance.He is beaten by the circus foreman, P. Gress, and kept imprisoned. The ghoul escapes, and his freedom terrorizes the island. Bodies are discovered, amongst whom, Bo is thought to be a victim. Fear paralyzes the people as reports spread through the land about Chickabee Wilson, the ""killer."" The ghoul is doomed. A courtroom drama follows which tests friendships and convictions, uncovers prejudices and wrong doings, and proves the innocence of Chickabee Wilson who has wrongfully been killed by the town's vigilantes. Bo is found alive, and like the tide,life goes on at its unpredictable pace. The river, whatever its potential treachery, is easier for Ebb to understand than the island's perplexing human relationships. Despite its hardships the town is united by a series of events that take place after the inquest. It is comedy that soothes the bitterness of struggle as friendships, religion and tradition bring a community together.

Ebb of the River is compared to Mark Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn and the problems he had in acceptance by the literary/religious censors of the time.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Author:

Novel - Ebb of the River - published and blacklisted in 1980 by Simon and Schuster/Wyndham Books.

Reason: "... racially accurate but tough sections disqualify it for corporate promotions."

Racial division/senseless killings/ environmental abuse plague the United States today as it did in 1945. Now, I'm mad and reentering the book for comment. Enough is enough.

From the Back Cover:

Review Praise for EBB OF THE RIVER

"WHAT THE MISSISSIPPI WAS TO HUCK FINN, the Patuxent in Maryland is to Ebb ..." - Los Angeles Times

Like the river itself, THIS NOVEL FLOWS SO POWERFULLY that we are finally carried away." - Washington Post Book World

"Inevitable comparisons arise - with 'Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Pulitzer Prize Winner) and Huckleberry Finn.' Happily, 'EBB OF THE RIVER' HOLDS ITS OWN, EVEN BESIDE TWAIN'S CLASSIC." - Baltimore News American

"RICH AMERICAN FOLKLORE ...has a life of its own ... offering much to enjoy and ponder." - Publisher's Weekly

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.