RaveThe Brooklyn RailLincoln Michel is an enormously talented writer, and one of the things he does exceptionally well is blend genres ... impressive in its attention to detail, for almost everything about this world has been so thoroughly fleshed out that even throwaway lines contain a wealth of information ... Such a wealth of detail, information, and plot-propelling action make The Body Scout a wickedly clever, fast-paced, entertaining read, while, I think, sacrificing a bit of character introspection. That’s not to say that every literary novel must or should be packed to the gills with dime-store philosophizing, but in a novel where the main character is defined by trauma, a turn towards descriptive passages conveying an intensity of emotional depth would have perhaps balanced some of that propulsive action. I say that because during those spare moments when Michel chooses to have his characters plumb their interior lives, he writes it beautifully about it ... a modern-day masterpiece. Still, this novel is one hell of a mercilessly entertaining ride, one that I can’t recommend enough. Dear reader, you’re in for a treat.
Percival Everett
RaveThe Quarterly ConversationEssentially, the novel asks the question(s): What does it mean to be black, and how black must a black artist act before she is considered authentic and legitimate, a standard-bearer for racial culture, and thus, a \'credit to the race\'? ... The question the novel asks us to consider is how any artist of color might manage to hang on to her creative and personal integrity, especially when an entire industry is devoted to maintaining a pathological and sometimes blatantly racist lie about them. What makes Erasure such a great book is the answer it posits, but in the grand scheme of things, as for what that answer actually means, I feign no hypotheses.
