THE HARRIS MEN

An effortful first novel that features an African-American father seeking reconciliation with the sons he abandoned 20 years earlier. Julius Harris, diagnosed with terminal cancer as the story opens, begins a campaign to make peace with his three sons, now grown men in their 30s. In Chicago, the three have managed in one way or another to stay together in spite of serious problems: the oldest, Austin, a successful lawyer whose growing responsibilities as father and husband have become a burden to him, separates from his wife and children; Caleb, an ex-con with a girlfriend and young son, can—t seem to hold down a job, which jeopardizes his family—despite the efforts of beneficent African-American business owner Joseph Benning, who tries to give him a chance; and Marcus, the middle son, a graphic artist whose main role is to prevent Austin and Caleb from losing sight of each other, is motivated in the effort by his own fear of loss and abandonment by those he loves. From his home in California, father Julius—never as deeply portrayed as his sons—hears no response to his inquires about his offspring and arrives in Chicago just as Caleb is arrested and jailed for abetting in a bloody robbery. The final reconciliation is compassionately and believably described, with each man’s guilt, resentment, and ego placed in clashing juxtaposition to that of the others. The depiction of the wives and girlfriends, even so, could use improvement: generally one-dimensional, the women are uniformly supportive, wise, and intuitively right about family matters. While the separate identities of the sons are firmly established, too many words and pages are devoted to their thoughts on topical or peripheral subjects, doing little service to the novel’s native identity or dramatic movement; and yet even with its flaws, this unevenly talented debut introduces an intriguing writer.