Tuff: From the Man Booker prize-winning author of The Se

Beatty's language and humor cut like a knife. At once tender and funny as hell.

Un roman de qualité qui déjoue beaucoup d'idées reçues. Je pense qu'il est indispensable de se laisser aller pour le découvrir. Bonne lecture.

Winston "Tuffy" Foshay is running for city council because, well, because he needs to. He may not know it, but running for public office is standing between him and all sorts of trouble in his Spanish Harlem neighborhood. A big man, he's also much more than just his "tuff" persona. He's as memorable a character as I've come across in American fiction, and he's a bit like a Huck Finn for Harlem."Tuff," by Paul Beatty, is, like all of Beatty's other novels, playful and serious at the same time. It's not concerned with being the "typical urban ghetto slice-of-life novel" (and indeed, it upsets the conventions of said genre, in ways that are often humorous but always truthful). Beatty is an author who upsets the conventions of whatever he's working in (the coming-of-age story, the mystery, the racial satire), and here is no different. Just when you think you have Winston pegged, he and Beatty surprise you. For such a short novel (only 259 pages), Beatty manages to play on so many tropes that your head will spin.I first came to know Paul Beatty's work through "The White Boy Shuffle," and his Booker Prize for "The Sellout" is richly deserved. "Tuff" isn't perfect, but it's entertaining and enlightening enough to be worth your time. Give Tuffy your vote, and you won't be disappointed.

good

Winston Foshay - Tuffy - is one of the most memorable characters I have encountered in fiction in the last few years. His language, his relationships, his reasoning, and his taste in film worked for me separately and together. The surrounding characters in Tuff fall into the 'interesting, but not quite deep enough' camp for me, certainly enough description for their supporting roles, but none of them strong enough to be the Tuffy's foil or an authentic sounding board for his reflections. The settings seemed a bit confusing. While entertaining a sumo exhibition lends very little to the plot and only a little to Winston. Overall though, an enjoyable book that I would recommend.