by Devaughn Lilly
5 of 5 Stars
The Magnificent Life of Gravvy Brown by Devaughn Lilly is non stop action in a historical context. Born just before the Roaring 20s, Gravvy Brown went on the be the youngest person in Louisiana history to be executed for murder and the first person to be executed by the electric chair - just three days before his twenty-first birthday.
Set as a frame story, The Magnificent Life of Gravvy Brown is Gravvy Brown's conveyance of three generations of his family's history to a reporter looking to get his big break the day before Gravvy's execution. Gravvy's voice during the book is easy, reflective and enthralling. DeVaughn Lilly did a tremendous job letting Gravvy paint the most vivid picture of the life and times of himself and his mother and even his grandmother and how they are all intertwined through struggle, drugs and racism. I was so immersed in the Gravvy's narrative that I forgot that I was reading a story within a story. The other thing that jogged my memory was the reporter David Wolfe occasionally asking a question or making a comment to the imprisoned Gravvy.
Each time I picked up the book, I felt like I was a part of the journey, seeing the world through Gravvy's eyes. The version of the book I read had 344 pages. I chuckled to myself when Gravvy was born just before the 200 page mark because I felt like we had gone through a lifetime of experiences with Gravvy by then. His inclusion in the actual story had yet to begin. Reading The Magnificent Life of Gravvy Brown felt like sitting around that one family member that knows everything about everybody. Gravvy makes it is easy to get caught up in this novel.
DeVaughn Lilly is the consummate historian, seamlessly infusing global, national and local news within Gravvy Brown's narrative of the first half of the 1900s. World War I, the Prohibition Era, Marcus Garvey's Black Nationalist Movement, Hollywood, shifts in the presidency, hurricanes, woman's suffrage, etc. All these things are seen through the eyes of Black folks trying to survive an overtly racist, yet beautiful American landscape. Lilly use history to add relevance to The Magnificent Life of Gravvy Brown. Those historical facts many times take a backseat many times to the great adventures Gravvy Brown shares.
To read the full JoeyPinkney.com Book Review of The Magnificent Life of Gravvy Brown, http://h1t.it/QjL4sn
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