Book Review: Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

My Rating: 

4.5⭐

Our unnamed narrator is a Black writer riding high on the success of his recently published book – a book titled “Hell of a Book” ("It’s been Kindled and Kobo’d, iPadded and Audible’d. It’s been optioned so that it can be movie’d—"). He is currently on a promotional tour, traveling across the country, answering the question “What’s Your Book About?”, signing copies and connecting with his reader base. Of course, he has been extensively trained in media interaction and has a “handler” wherever he goes, though that doesn’t quite prevent him from getting into trouble. As our narrator travels across the country, the recent tragic shooting of a ten-year-old Black boy by the police has garnered national attention – it’s on the news, protesters have taken to the streets - and being an African –American writer, almost everywhere he goes someone is bringing it up expecting him to voice his thoughts about it. 

Parallel to our narrator’s experiences is the story of a little boy who is unkindly nicknamed “Soot” on account of his extremely dark skin. Soot’s loving parents believe that they can keep him safe if he stays “invisible”.

Our narrator is often visited by “The Kid”, a “gangly, meek, and nerdy-looking” boy only he can see and interact with, who insists he is “real” and with whom he shares some deep and meaningful conversations on what it means to Black in America.

As the different threads converge and the lines between fiction and reality become blurred -for our narrator and for the reader-the story attains a dream-like quality that pulls you in, breaks your heart and leaves you more than a little unsettled.

“But the thing to know and remember is that you can never be something other than what you are, no matter how much you might want to. You can’t be them. You can only be you. And they’re going to always treat you differently than they treat themselves. They won’t ever know about it—at least, most of them won’t. Most of them will think that everything is okay and that you’re being treated well enough and that everything is beautiful. Because, I guess for them, all they can imagine is a world in which things are fair and beautiful because, after all, they’ve always been treated fairly and beautifully. History has always been kind to them.”

I tend to be wary of award winning books with a lot of hype surrounding them which is why I took my time to get to this one. But I am so glad that I eventually did pick this book up. Aptly named, "Hell of a Book" is truly a creative and brilliant work of fiction. With its powerful writing, lyrical prose and elements of magical realism, sardonic humor and a narrative that is hard-hitting, insightful and relevant, Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book is a unique and immersive experience. I combined my reading with the audio narration by JD Jackson and Ronald Peet which made for an exceptional immersion reading experience.