Review: Push Comes to Shove — Wesley Brown

Posted on | June 11, 2009 | No Comments

The second book out from Concord Free Press, Push Comes to Shove, was a intriguing, worth while read. It’s fairly short, just as Fitch’s Give and Take was. This one however is historical fiction. I am not usually a fan of historical fiction. Maybe I just haven’t read the right stuff in the past. I generally find it to be somewhat detached and alienating. Push Comes to Shove couldn’t have been further from that. As a young, white female, one would tend to believe I would have found a story wrapped around social movements of the sixties, primarily black movements, to be alienating simply having nothing in common with the character’s lives. Wesley Brown does an impeccable job at fleshing out every character in this book, even supporting ones who blink in and out of the story as years pass. I felt the humanity of each character, and the way Brown detailed their psychology, kept me invested in an era and in these characters lives in a way that another author likely wouldn’t have been able to pull off.

The book has roving narrative. There are no chapters. Instead, each section starts with a name and a year. That name is the person narrating the section. It was a little confusing in the begining as characters were being introduced, but the bulk of the sections follow Muriel and Raymond. Once you get into a groove with these two, main characters, the “chapter” style works really well. There are a few instances where other characters have their say, but these parts are necessary and well-executed. There are times when italicized, third person narration comes into play. These parts fill in background when necessary. I think if the book were a bit longer, they may not have been needed at all. They seemed to distract from the cadence of the back and forth between Muriel and Raymond and I was a bit annoyed each time I came to one of those parts.

I’m not going into a full description of all the activist groups and historical events that take place in this book because they are really only players in a bigger story. In my opinion, this books was about loss, struggle, closure, and the need for a place to call home. Even though it takes place mostly in the ’60s (through the ’80s), this book is incredibly timely. Some of Brown’s insights about Vietnam Vets and some of the dialogue between various characters could take place right now. Sadly.

I’m fully expecting some disagreement on this review, but I actually enjoyed Push Comes to Shove even more than Give and Take. I look forward to Concord’s next release. I will also be pursuing Brown’s other two novels, Tragic Magic and Darktown Strutters, in the near future.

Lastly, I’ve decided to bring this book on my road trip and leave it somewhere or give it to someone along my way. I’ll be posting a pic of that once we’re on the road. Anyone think that The World’s Largest Truck Stop might be a good drop spot?