One For New York by John A Williams Reviewed by Steve Rudd

A remarkable novel in every respect, this is a classic piece of literature from an incredibly gifted writer who expressed exactly how it felt to be a black man growing up in the United States early on in the last Century. This book focuses on his vain attempts to land himself a good job in New York, all the while his heart is being torn between two women in his complicated personal life. He loves both a lady called Grace, who his brother ended up marrying (because he could provide her with more security), and a white lady called Lois.

Through the course of the book, as well as chronicling his career trajectory (he winds up in a vanity publishing job, but still feels he is being discriminated against when his employer avoids giving him a pay rise despite him being wholly worthy of one), we follow how he comes to the conclusion that Grace is the woman for him. John A. Williams brings to life some amazingly vivid scenes, not least when he drops by the Birdland nightclub in the city with a friend to see a jazz band play. Williams has a rare ability of describing the musicians on stage - and the way in which they play their instruments - that all the reader really needs is his words to marvel at how great the band must sound (The alto sax man pivoted slightly and began to blow with a gentle rush of air, for example).

Williams also gives Jack Kerouac a run for his money when he describes the journey from LA to New York, eagerly recounting the excitement of heading first through the mountains of California, and on into the desert as he travelled further East towards the Big Apple. He also makes New York sound like a wonderful city when the mood takes him, even if it isn't particularly easy living there when you're black. But, just before dawn; just before people poured out of and into offices; before the noises started screaming through the glass-brick, asphalt-floored canyons; before the light came up and the buildings became harsh and their windows glinted like the points of steel daggers. At that moment New York was mine and I was surveying it, sauntering through it, making sure everything and everyone in it was all right. Ah yes, John A. Williams - in his writing - has the heart of a true poet.

Williams was born back in 1925, and is perhaps best known for his best-selling book The Man Who Cried I Am. Still, his One For New York masterpiece really is so brilliant that, if I were you, I'd be tempted to get two... ISBN 0-86241-648-5 (Payback Press; first published as The Angry Ones in the USA in 1974)

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