Blackly humorous tale follows fortunes of lovable misfit: ThePost.ie


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Blackly humorous tale follows fortunes of lovable misfit
Sunday, April 24, 2005 - Reviewed by Linda Maher
The Ballad Of Lee Cotton, by Christopher Wilson, Little, Brown, €21.60.

Lee Cotton is not an average black kid in Eureka, Mississippi, in 1950. For starters, he's white with blond hair and blue eyes; and he hears voices, usually from living people, but now and again a dead one will creep in.

Lee's father is an Icelandic sailor, while his mother is a black “high-strung, sulky homegirl with a strong gospel habit'‘. Their acquaintance goes no further than one short night together. Lee's father heads back to sea unaware of the legacy he's left behind.

Lee's birth causes great excitement in Eureka. The local reverend is called in to explain the “rude package of life delivered in error to the wrong address'‘, but decides that Lee is simply a manifestation of the Lord's sense of humour. Lee's early life is difficult, as his mother decides what school he should go to, while he finds it hard to decide where to sit on the bus.

His mother tries to help, but can't solve the problem.

“You don't want to crowd no nice black strangers by sitting down with them. And you don't want to get uppity with no white folks that know you by taking their seats.

“And, then again, you don't want to offend no black neighbours by sitting apart.

“But you don't want no white strangers to think you're some ignorant redneck trash by sitting at the back.”

Lee has inherited his grandmother Celeste's “gift'‘ and can hear people's thoughts. This makes school difficult, as a room full of children has a lot of thoughts flying around. Lee's life changes forever when he meets Angel in the local grocery shop.

They begin a romance, but Lee fails to tell Angel that he's really black. When her father, a racist drunk, finds out, he teaches Lee a lesson.

“I feel things puncture. I sense the warm gush of leaking tubes. There's a spurt of fluids being forced from hidden sacs. There's the awful ache of deep things that aren't ever meant to be touched. My lips part to a toe cap and my teeth yield salty hot. And there's a grating break, which is the snap of my jaw. There's the hiss of air as something deflates slow.”

The beating changes Lee's life. Presumed dead by his family, he spends over a year recovering in a hospital miles from his home. When he gets out he is drafted into a special section of the army. On leave, he is involved in an accident that again alters the course of his life.

The Ballad of Lee Cotton is Christopher Wilson's third novel, but a real diversion from his first two, Blueglass and Mischief. There are many laugh-out-loud moments interspersed with events of real poignancy. Wilson displays a real insight into the nature of people and uses the changes in Lee's fortunes to look at life from all angles.

Wilson has claimed that he has “always written about misfits and freaks . . . the book is autobiographical in the sense of always feeling on the outside'‘. This book is certainly based on a freak, but it is difficult to feel anything but warmth for Lee.

If you like your humour quick and black, this is a must read.