Rating: 
Summary: Puzzling
Review: Unlike other reviewers, I'll not outline the plot of this strange novel again but will try to unravel the basic theme. I'll admit, that is a somewhat daunting task. What is evil? Try to define it without religious overtones. The wolf and the bear have no concept of evil, just of survival--according to the man in the basement. Perhaps, as one philosopher has pointed out, "What truly separates man from the beast are pointless ritual and mindless superstition." Wolves have no truck with such human concepts such as "evil." Wolves just do what they do. But man with his bicameral brain thinks about what he does.
As he tries to sort it out for himself and his "warden," the man in the basement seeks some form of atonement for all the imagined or real evil he has done or helped do or perpetuated. But masochism and discomfort and filth are hardly atonement--at least, in my view. And self punishment does not help the prisoner in the end, as the reader will discover.
Supposedly the man in the basement has had some sort of healing effect upon Charles. He is more cordial, does better with women, etc. after his encounters with his "prisoner." Maybe the money had something to do with it. He says at one point that the money doesn't matter. But I wonder....
The book is very nicely written, moves well, and has interesting characters.
Rating:
Summary: I should have bought it
Review: Walter Mosely has always been rather hit or miss with me. His Easy Rawlins mysteries are good reads yet a bit forgetable after a few months. The Fearless Jones books are entertaining but not much more. Blue Light just sucked and I didn't finish it. But he's always been a good enough writer to make me take notice when he has something new out. I saw Man in My Basement at the bookstore last week and read the synopsis. Sounded interesting but not enough for me to pay $22 for a 250 page book. So I got it from the library.After finishing it, I think I should have just bought the thing because I know I'll be reading it again and passing it on to all my friends. First of all, this is the best writing Mosley has done so far. Miles ahead of all his other stuff in terms of pace, tone, theme and overall prose. Second, it's original. I don't recall ever reading a story quite like it. Third, it's unpredictible (unlike some of his "mysteries"). I thought I had an idea where the story was going and was even dreading some heavy-handed sermonizing and lectures about race relations. Fortunately, it's not about any of that. The themes examined in the book are way more universal and I even found myself rethinking a few things about my own day-to-day living. The Man in My Basement is Mosely in prime form and I hope he continues to push the envelope like this.
Rating:
Summary: And Now for Something Completely Different from Mosley
Review: Walter Mosley as a writer is hard to pin down. He's written mystery novels, featuring Easy Rawlins, and at least one science fiction novel, 'Blue Light.' He's written about one of the most interesting characters in American fiction, Socrates Fortlow, in a group of short stories, 'Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned' and 'Walkin' the Dog.' And now he's written a novel set on Long Island, far from his usual Los Angeles scene, in a community of African-Americans who have been there since before the Revolution (that's the American Revolution, folks!). And he's concocted a wildly improbable plot that if nothing else convinces that Mosley has a wickedly inventive and creative mind.
But most of all, and true in all of Mosley's writing, there is an undercurrent of subtly examined moral and ethical issues. Not the kind that clobbers you over the head with preachiness, but the kind that draws you in and makes you start thinking hard about things that are deep and disturbing, issues like 'good' and 'evil.'
This novel, which I've now read twice, has stayed with me long after most books are distant memories. There is something profoundly disturbing and yet profoundly moving in this short book. So, in spite of there already being 30+ reviews of 'The Man in My Basement,' I felt I had to add my endorsement.
Urgently recommended.
Scott Morrison
Rating: 
Summary: Great work
Review: Walter Mosley does it again. The Man in my Basement was an incredible story of Charles Blakely, a man going nowhere fast,
(a loser on so many levels)until he is meets Anniston Bennett and his unorthodox proposition. The book captured my attention and forced me to think of my actions should I be faced with a similar situation.
I highly recommend it.
Peace!
Trinice Speight-Moses
Sisters with a Purpose Book Club
New Jersey
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