What the Shadow Told Me

by Kurtis Davidson, David Rachels, Kurt José Ayau

What happens when America's greatest author dies before delivering the long-awaited sequel to the greatest novel of the 20th century? His young editor is left racing to find the missing manuscript... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597660027
• ISBN13: 9781597660020
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Eastern Washington University Press
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

It's a smalls smalls world

Who would think that in a city of 8 million people (and those living in Monrovia) there would be a tight knit group that would all be touched in a big way by the hunt for a phantom manuscript? Learn of the secret (and not so secret) lives of all involved. With a celebrity list a mile long, penned in cameos include; Olga Korbut, Susan Dey, John Lennon, Tammy Faye Bakker, David Hasselhoff, Satchel Paige and Adolph Hitler. Follow Justina on her mad search while she is "on vacation" for the jewel of a famous black writer's career. After reading this I felt I was back at the magic kingdom riding my favorite ride mesmerized by all the children singing, "it's a small world after all". I haven't read that much in one sitting since I read to my son Melville's "Moby Dick" and he wouldn't let me stop until the exciting part was over. Thanks guy's! It sure was wild, Blake

Satire At Its Best!

Not too many authors succeed in writing a satirical novel. This is probably due in large part in that there must be a tale of ideas that are appealing and stimulating to our intellect. In addition, the satire has to be funny and witty, often including far out and slap stick characters, who constantly exhibit goofy playfulness, as they grapple with various propositions. Readers are not so much interested in the story per se, but rather in the author's intellectually fascinating thoughts and ideas. Kurtis Davidson, author of What The Shadow Told Me, has brilliantly overcome this Herculean task with his satire that revolves around an African-American author who supposedly had written a book that some considered as the greatest African-American novel of the twentieth century-even perhaps the greatest American novel! Rufus Walter Eddison was born in a one room shack in Missouri, and at the age of seventeen, during the Great Depression, moves to Harlem, forsaking a scholarship to attend the state "Negro college." He finds employment with a newspaper called, The Call and Response, and then moves onto, The New York Herald. As a newspaper journalist covering a horrendous story concerning a baby killer, Rufus meets his future wife Maisy May. Maisy realizes that Rufus is a brilliant writer, and she encourages and supports him, while he writes his masterpiece, Darkness Visible, that ultimately turns out to be a best seller. The world awaits the sequel from Rufus, however, unfortunately he dies before delivering his second novel. After his demise, a cast of hilarious and absurd characters with their cacophony of different voices with ulterior motives search to locate Rufus's novel, which they are certain exists. Davidson's thoughts pertaining to the publishing industry, as well as the world of academia, are refreshing and are cleverly woven into the narrative. The "bottom line" mentality as the most important element in publishing books, as well as sometimes unethical and questionable practices, particularly pertaining to deceased authors, is skillfully expounded upon using satire to its fullest. Throughout the novel, the author succeeds in moving the spoof effortlessly from the larger to the smaller picture, often with side-splitting one-liners, hilarious dialogue mixed with black humor- all effectively paced within an unbelievable plot. And it is precisely this humor and wittiness that is the novel's narrative engine, maintaining our interest until the last sentence. (It should be noted that Kurt Davidson is the pen name of Kurt Jose Ayau and David Rachels.) Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com

The best I've read for a long, long time!

Decidedly unusual and refreshing. The development of characters is fascinating; it's full of things to make you smile and things to make you think. You may think you have figured out what the ending will be, but this is also full of surprises. I thoroughly enjoyed it ... enough to order two more copies to send to friends. Bravo to the authors -- and encore!

Inanely intelligent and intelligently inane

The two-headed authorial monster, Kurtis Davidson, offers a lucidly loony tale of a mad captain who hunts down the White Whale and hurls flaming yams at him. Wait, I seem a bit confused--but this novel is indeed a profound quest, with all the wacky humor that Melville would have injected if only he'd been funny and peculiar enough. The White Whale, the Holy Grail, the parking space at the mall--everything elusive and allusive that so bedevils us frail immoral mortals pales in comparison to the search for the Great American Novel, allegedly left somewhere by the late Rufus Walter Eddison. Intricately plotted and thus certain to appeal to conspiracy theorists everywhere, "What the Shadow Told Me" takes you through a maze of amazement, in which you meet minotaurs, or in any case memorable characters--such as Rufus's widow, Maisy May, who, in her warm decency and depth, would have made even Faulkner proud. You will learn about publishing, writing, linguistics, race relations, humor, whaling, ancient Egyptian mythology, and peak oil. Well, you will learn about some of those things; consult other books for the rest. (Don't expect Kurtis Davidson to do everything for you.) Most important, you will discover how to do "translations" of the sort that landed Enoch in heaven and me in the rest home for tired minds. The lovable Biminim will teach you the Way of the Word so that henceforth even automatic Internet "Babel Fish" translations will seem like sweetly singing sanity. So stick a Babel Fish in your ear and begin a cosmic trip.

the best of the book that you buy

I've been reading bits of this novel for months, passed around like samizdat on the Internet & through email -- it's funny as hell. Great to see it's found a home -- buy it!