From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The embattled characters who people McCall's trenchant, slyly humorous debut novel (following the 1994 memoir Makes Me Wanna Holler and a 1997 essay collection) can't escape gentrification, whether as victim or perpetrator. As he turns 40, Barlowe Reed, who is black, moves to buy the home he's long rented in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward, the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. His timing is bad: whites have taken note of the cheap, rehab-ready houses in the historically black neighborhood and, as Barlowe's elderly neighbor says to him, They comin. Skyrocketing housing prices and the new neighbors' presumptuousness anger Barlowe, whose 20-something nephew is staying with him, and other longtime residents, who feel invaded and threatened. Battle lines are drawn, but when a white couple moves in next door to Barlowe, the results are surprising. Masterfully orchestrated and deeply disturbing illustrations of the depth of the racial divide play out behind the scrim of Barlowe's awkward attempts to have conversations in public with new white neighbor Sandy. McCall also beautifully weaves in the decades-long local struggle over King's legacy, including the moment when a candidate for King's church's open pulpit is rejected for linguistic lapses... unbefitting of the crisp doctoral eloquence of Martin Luther King. McCall nails such details again and again, and the results, if less than hopeful, are poignant and grimly funny. (Nov.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine
Former Washington Post reporter Nathan McCallโs previous work includes a memoir and a collection of essays. Like the characters in this debut novel, reviewers agreed that the ground covered in Them is valuable, but they disagreed over how it should be treated. While all critics thought that Barlowe is a complex protagonist and a fascinating black voice, many thought that McCallโs white characters are little more than stereotypes. Some reviewers interpreted these charactersโ lack of depth as satire; others saw it as a realistic portrayal of how some people behave in a racially charged environment. The novelโs subject matter, gentrification, is a problem that few in America, white or black, have really figured out how to solve. As a result, most critics were willing to forgive the workโs shortcomings in the hope that its readers will learn to forgive as well.
Copyright ยฉ 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.