Book Review: Devil Is Fine by John Vercher

 

Rating: 4.5⭐

With exquisite prose, dark humor, complex characters and a gripping narrative that revolves around themes of grief, trauma, fatherhood, racial identity and legacy, I found Devil Is Fine by John Vercher hard to put down.

As the novel begins, we meet our unnamed narrator/protagonist, a biracial author born to a White mother and Black father, grappling with the recent loss of his teenage son Malcolm. When he inherits a plot of land from his estranged maternal grandfather, he wants nothing to do with the property and travels south to initiate all necessary formalities for its sale. However, a routine inspection of the land leads to a shocking discovery. As the dark history of the land and his ancestors is gradually revealed, our protagonist is traumatized by the implications.

Adding to his grief and pain are his strained personal relationships and the stress brought on by the fact that his latest manuscript isn’t generating much interest among publishing houses and that his inability to publish in recent years might make it difficult for him to hold on to his teaching position.

As our narrator slips back into old habits, triggering a downward spiral, what follows is a fever dream-like journey wherein the lines between reality and imagination begin to blur, past and present collapses into a hallucinatory series of events that force our protagonist to confront his complicated feelings about his legacy and explore how the same has impacted the most important aspects of his life.

The narrative is shared from the PoV of our unnamed protagonist in the form of a one-sided conversation with his deceased son. The author has deftly woven an element of magical realism into the narrative, creating a tension-filled almost claustrophobic vibe but also injects enough dry humor into the narrative so as not to overwhelm. The strength of this novel lies in its in-depth exploration of the protagonist's psyche – his beliefs, his motivations, his inner conflict and his worldview - as he wavers between moments of lucidity and phantasmagoria. The supporting characters are well thought out, and from their interactions with our narrator we are provided an insightful look into how he is perceived by those who know him/ come to know him as opposed to his self-perception. We might question our narrator's choices, because at times, his motivations are difficult to understand, but at no point do we stop rooting for him to emerge from his traumatized state and embark on a journey of self-acceptance, forgiveness, healing and redemption.

I appreciated the significance of the cover art - which is indicative of the symbolism of the jellyfish, which is integral to the narrative - more after reading the book. I only wish that we were given a bit more insight into past events and the history of the plantation.

I paired my reading with the incredible audio narration by Dion Graham who brought this story, the setting and the characters to life making for an intense immersion reading experience.

Overall, I thought this was a brilliantly crafted work of literary fiction that I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy character-driven narratives with an element of magical realism.

Many thanks to Celadon Books for the digital review copy and Macmillan Audio for the ALC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.