“Children of the Good Book”
by J.M. Holmes
from the May 17, 2021 issue of The New Yorker
J.M. Holmes is a completely new author for me. I don’t recall coming across his work before at all, though I see he published a book with Little, Brown in 2018 called How Are You Going to Save Yourself. Has anyone reading this read it? I’d love to know how it is!
Here we have his debut New Yorker fiction, “Children of the Good Book.” I have read the (very good) author interview with Deborah Treisman, so I am intrigued. There Holmes talks about Black masculinity.
And Black boys, we tend to grow up a whole lot faster, since there is still a not-so-subtle undercurrent of fear surrounding our bodies and our personhood in this country—especially if we happen to be as big, physically, as my family tends to be. And then, when we’re all together, we become even more of a target for that bullshit. I remember getting thrown out of a mall when I was thirteen or fourteen, ’cause security said we were intimidating paying customers.
In the interview, if I’m reading it correctly, Holmes’ first book was criticized as being “a glorification of misogyny” or “damaging to Black men.” He says that in writing this story he was very careful in how he portrayed any violence, to the point it seems he may have been trying not to go there. But, as he says, “once I pushed [Bull and Isaac’s] altercation past a certain point, I resigned myself to the fact that anything less than violence wouldn’t be an honest exploration of the pain and fear that both of those men were harboring, and of the overwhelming shame that Bulls feels.”
I have been pretty busy lately, so I’m behind here and have not read the story, but this sounds thoughtful and provocative. I intend to read it soon. In the meantime, please share your thoughts below. I hope we all really like it — because why hope otherwise — but if you didn’t also feel free to let us know why.
I’m somewhat surprised that there are no comments on this story. It is powerful and almost demands a response.
I think for the most part Holmes succeeds in what he is trying to show – White mainstream society/economy bears down so hard on black men that they eventually crack. And their shame and anger are visited on young Black men and passed down to them.
The several sections in italics are an interesting device – they encapsulate what Isaac would have said to Bull if he had been articulate enough and if there had not been so much bad feeling between them. These sections portray the antagonism/pain in explicit language.
One aspect of the story that I am puzzled by. Why did Abraham and Israel keep the narrator from waking Isaac? Did they know that Bull was going to beat him and want it to happen? Or perhaps they wanted to keep Isaac from his assignation with the minister’s daughter? Not clear to me. But their decision not to wake Isaac is clearly an instrumental element in the story. It allowed Bull to tie up Isaac and beat him and resulted in Bull being in the back of the police car.
Connie. Religion. You can make young Black men go to church, but that doesn’t overcome the social situation in which they are growing up. Church doesn’t help Isaac channel his strong spirit into something positive.
Oh wow, I’m going to assume everyone is so stunned by the power of this short story that they haven’t been able to leave a comment.
This is a moving piece that had me laughing, angry and sad.. What a home run for Holmes. If I wasn’t emotionally drained by the first read, I’d start over again.
William,
Speaking from personal experience when I was younger and one of us was in trouble you DID not interveen, that was not your place. Intervening meant that you were asking for even more of a butt whooping because you thought you were ‘grown’.
This might be hard for someone who didn’t grown up in this environment but you did not get into grown folks business.
This can be shown In the story when Abe said “if I ratted to momma, bull’d whup Issac twice as bad”
I wish I could better clear this up, but for me, their reaction made sense.
This is an interesting discussion. I was moved by both the story and the interview. Both bery powerful. Am kind if surprised how little i can find out about the author. He must be young. His story about getting thrown out if a shopping mall is upsetting.
I just finished reading How Are You Going to Save Yourself that I got after being impressed/liking the story in The New Yorker. The book and the story have some of the same characters; the book’s stories are linked by them also. The book is definitely worth a read.
I know this thread is super old but I stumbled upon it today (yes I Googled myself cause I have writer’s block and feel bad about myself today) and feel compelled to thank y’all for taking the time to read and engage with the story. And the interview! I know the story is a rough read and the collection is even tougher so I’m very grateful to anyone who takes the time.