Friday 17 June 2022

“Wounded“ by Percival Everett - review


 “Wounded” by Percival Everett:

John Hunt, the laconic, black protagonist of this novel is a horse trainer and lives on a farm in Wyoming in self-imposed isolation with his old uncle Gus. Six years ago John lost his wife in a horse accident and still grieves. To John his blackness is almost incidental, he is well integrated and respected in the small community and his race is not an issue. He is an outsider in being a black horse trainer and in being a Berkeley-educated, modern art loving individual.


Just after the cruelly murdered body of a local gay man was found, "strung up like an elk with his throat slit“, the gay son of an old university friend, David, and his boyfriend come to visit the town to attend a gay rally in response to the killing and are met by some of the locals, the usual share of rednecks, bigots and bullies, with hostility. The couple soon after leaves, soon after they return back home they break up and David, looking for an escape from his love misery, believing that working on the ranch would do him good, returns to the farm. Slowly David and John become friends, John in a caring, fatherly way, aware that David has a crush on him. He has to face some difficult questions about himself and deal with his own complicated feelings about homosexuality. At the same time he falls in love, proposes and lives together with the neighbor woman Morgan, also a ranch owner.


One day David, sent out on an errant, does not return and the search for him ends up in catastrophe.


As in The Trees, Everett deals with themes of racism and culture clash and crafts this gripping western whodunnit into a dramatic and unsparing inquiry into contemporary prejudice. 

This is a highly entertaining, albeit sad and shocking story that addresses the toughest issues with humor and grace. The novel is as much about the withholding of emotion and the struggle to identify one's deepest needs as it is a political novel, asking the question of responsibility for those around us. 


Another beautiful novel by Percival Everett. 


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