THE FISHER KING

Two feuding Brooklyn families—West Indian and American—come to terms with the past when a young great-grandson arrives in their midst.

Marshall, Brooklyn native and author of the critically acclaimed Brown Girl, Brownstones (1981) and Daughters (1991), explores the long-standing rivalry between West Indian immigrants and American-born blacks, telling the interwoven stories of several generations on both sides. The Paynes, ambitious strivers from the islands, don’t think much of the high-and-mighty McCullums, only one generation removed from their Virginia farm. Then young, musically talented Sonny-Rett Payne woos and wins Cherisse McCullum, the lovely, light-skinned daughter whose mother had hoped would become a movie star á la Dorothy Dandridge—and the battle lines are drawn. While their mothers never forgive it (or each other for allowing it), Sonny-Rett and Cherisse escape to Paris after WWII, and there Sonny-Rett becomes a world-famous jazz musician and composer, and Cherisse his happy wife. They’re accompanied by Hattie Carmichael, once a foster child in their close-knit community, who acts as Sonny’s manager and the family factotum. The expatriate Paynes thrive until Sonny’s descent many years later into drug abuse and Cherisse’s subsequent death from breast cancer. Their wayward daughter JoJo has a fling with a street vendor from Cameroon, which results in a son, named after his grandfather. Hattie eventually brings the boy to visit his elderly American relatives, who are still struggling to keep up appearances in their rapidly gentrifying neighborhood—and still clinging to their dimly remembered fury over the long-ago feud.

Several distinct voices and points of view develop this multilayered narrative, reminiscent of jazz improvisations that explore a melody in different ways. But Marshall’s undisciplined prose doesn’t have the sensual immediacy of music: ultimately the effect is more confusing than lyrical.