Walter Mosley best as the author of the 'Easy Rawlins' mystery series, but Mosley dabbles in many genres. This book is a literary novel about two boys who think of themselves as brothers, but have very different lives.
*****
Branwyn Beerman - a beautiful, black single woman who works in a florist shop - gives birth to a baby boy with a hole in his lung.
Little Thomas Beerman is a 'bubble baby', kept in a glass enclosure that Branwyn visits every day - to will her baby to live.
Tommy's father, Elton Trueblood, didn't want a child and walked out when Branwyn was three weeks pregnant. Thus Branwyn is on her own with the ailing tot.
Dr. Minas Nolan is a recently widowed, handsome white surgeon whose wife died giving birth to Eric.....
.....a big healthy baby destined to become a blonde, blue-eyed Adonis.
Dr. Nolan and Branwyn meet in the hospital and strike up a friendship. The doctor convinces Branwyn to take Tommy out of the facility, so the boy will have a chance to live a normal life. Long story short, Branwyn and Tommy move in with Dr. Nolan and Eric - who live in a lovely large home in Beverly Hills.
Minas and Branwyn become lovers, and the boys are raised as brothers, with Branwyn as their mother and Minas as their father.
The boys also have a Vietnamese nanny called Ahn.
Minas proposes marriage to Branwyn many times, but she refuses to wed since she still secretly yearns for Tommy's father. Though things are going well in the Nolan household, Branwyn's mother strongly objects to the irregular arrangement and constantly chastises her daughter.
Eric and Tommy love each other dearly though they're as different as chalk and cheese. Little Tommy is a frail, clumsy dreamer who collects rocks and twigs in the garden, to show his doting mother. Eric is a hearty boy with a big personality who takes all the 'real toys' for himself, including Tommy's trucks and cars. When Branwyn retrieves Tommy's playthings from Eric's room one day, the big toddler howls for hours.....and Tommy, a big-hearted child, drags everything back to his brother's door.
Things go well until the boys are six-years-old, and Branwyn dies. Elton, encouraged by Tommy's grandmother, takes his son away - even though Elton knows nothing about kids and is unprepared to raise the child.
Tommy gets a makeshift bed on the back porch of Elton's ghetto house, where Elton lives with his girlfriend Eve. Tommy is disoriented and frightened, but Eve is kind.....and the child tries to adjust. He gets enrolled in a school down the block, which - for the first time - is full of kids that look like him.
Meanwhile, Eric - who's already missing Branwyn - is distraught at the loss of his brother, and vows to get him back. It will be many years before the boys meet again.
The narrative switches back and forth between Tommy and Eric, highlighting the contrasting events in the boys' lives as they grow up.
*****
On his first day in the new school, six-year-old Tommy meets a boy called Bruno, who gives Tommy the ironic nickname Lucky. Tommy becomes friends with Bruno and his older sister Monique, both of whom will greatly impact his life. In his first week of classes Tommy is repeatedly attacked by bullies and brought to tears in the classroom, where the sunlight is too bright. Thus Tommy stops going to school and spends every day in an unused, fenced-off alley behind Elton's house.
In the alley, Tommy cleans up trash, looks at nature, and hangs out in his 'clubhouse' - an abandoned basement room. Bruno tells the teacher that Tommy went back to his former home, and hard-drinking Elton - who works long hours as a mechanic - is too indifferent to notice. Thus Tommy's elementary school truancy goes on for three years.....until Elton's violent temper makes Tommy run away from home.
Tommy starts working for a drug dealer, delivering packages to customers, and makes good money.
Eventually, Tommy, who's not yet 12-years-old, moves in with Monique and her new baby - and becomes the provider for the household. Before long the drug business goes badly wrong, there's a shoot out, and Tommy is injured. Tommy is then sentenced to nine years in juvie, where he's repeatedly raped and abused. Eventually Tommy escapes and gets back on the streets, where he becomes one of the homeless, pushing a shopping cart through town.
*****
Eric, in the meantime, leads a charmed life. By the time he's fourteen, Eric - who reads newspapers with his father at breakfast - is knowledgeable about world affairs, is doing well in private school, is a fine athlete, and is popular with the girls.....even seniors. And his charmed life goes on from there.
The one person who has reservations about Eric is the former nanny (now housekeeper) Ahn - who thinks Eric is 'cursed'......and that his 'good luck' leads to other people's 'bad luck.' And this, indeed, appears to be true. To say more would be a spoiler.
In objective terms, Eric has a much better life than Tommy. Eric has a nice home, is bound for college, and has everything going his way. On the downside, Eric never recovers from losing Branwyn and Tommy and - with great insight - realizes he's 'toxic' to other people. This leads Eric to make major sacrifices, and he can't seem to find true happiness.
Tommy, on the other hand, has a very rough existence. He's yanked from a life of privilege, gets into trouble, suffers beatings and broken bones, comes across a dead body, gets shot more than once, wanders the street with bloody feet, grows up essentially illiterate and uneducated, is falsely arrested, and more. Through it all, however, Tommy remains stoic - even optimistic and happy. Tommy is the ultimate example of resiliency.
So, who's the 'fortunate son?" (I still vote Eric.)
In time, the two brothers find one another, which leads to a series of dramatic events and a memorable climax.
I enjoyed the book, but some parts are too slow and some strain credulity (for me). Still, this is a good novel, well worth reading.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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