As a white Canadian born in the last quarter of the 20th century, I do not know in any way shape or form what it means to be a Black American – or any other oppressed minority in a European-derived country – but I think perhaps this is the closest I will ever get to understanding it.

It is a powerful story and, though I want to sometimes challenge its realism, I cannot because I know stuff like this happened even if I want to react to it as contrived.

I have a few issues with it: I find he is unnecessarily obscure about things (whether it be the purposes and words of the communists he takes up with or with his own feelings) and I think occasionally the symbolism is as obvious as it gets (when he literally burns up his past in the sewer) but I still couldn’t put it down (which is saying something for a message book), I still needed to know what happened, and I was still moved in some vague and indefinite way.

I can’t give it full marks because of the occasional clunkiness, but it’s a near-classic.

9/10