Walter Mosley, The Right Mistake

I listened to "The Right Mistake" by Walter Mosley. Subtitle is "The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow"

Disclaimer: The below is merely my opinion. I just listened to the book.

Categories: This book defies categorization

Comments:

This is a story of love and redemption. It is told almost in a way that could be a series of somewhat related short stories. Maybe "vignette" is the right word. Maybe not.

I like many of Walter Mosley's books. A few I don't. My typical preference is to have some action of some sort in the book. For example, when I read Alexander McCall Smith's book about the typing school, I finished and told my wife, "It's interesting but its just a series of events only vaguely related and without any action at all."

This book is the same, except, it held my interest and keep me wanting to hear what happened next.

Socrates just kept finding ways he was messed up and kept making himself better. He accidentally made the world better in so doing but mostly he just made his life better.

This book is full of "black" stuff. I don't know of another way to say it. If that bothers you, read something else.

For example, when Socrates and Billy get arrested while driving toward northern California, the police tell them that they matched the description of some wanted drug offenders. When asked what the report said, with no humor at all, they said, "They were black" as if that was description enough to bring the boys in. But that is a too real aspect of real life.

It has: racist cops, angry ex-spouses, homeless folk, reformed killers, lawyers and other felons. Poor people changing their lives for the better. Posers and losers. Winners and free dinners.

What did I like: Socrates didn't blame, excuse or back down. Billy, Luna, Ron and Maxi all transformed their lives. In the end it was good but it was hard too. Most characters were real, live and human.

What didn't I like: Some parts were a little long, some characters were a little too cardboard.

Rating: 4 of 5, I liked it a lot.