Provinces of Night

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful characters, terrific prose
Review: William Gay's Provinces of Night was one of the best new novels I have ever read. I laughed out loud in parts, especially at the situations that Junior Albright found himself in. Fleming was my favorite character, with Junior and Julia close seconds. The characters were so genuinely described that I could picture their physical appearances throughout. The only criticism I have is the use of the term "black" when Raven Lee was talking about E.F.'s music. In the 1950's, in the South, it would have been insulting to use such a word (the term African-American had not yet been coined) The more accepted and sensitive term was "colored", or "Negro", provided that was pronounced correctly. Anything else would have labeled a white person as ignorant. I understand Gay's desire to be politically correct, but it was the one area that did not ring true in this otherwise authentic work.