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The Man in My Basement (2004)

av Walter Mosley

Andra författare: Se under Andra författare.

MedlemmarRecensionerPopularitetGenomsnittligt betygOmnämnanden
7892727,798 (3.64)72
Fiction. African American Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:Hailed as a masterpiece-the finest work yet by an American novelist of the first rank-this is the mysterious story of a young black man who agrees to an unusual bargain to save the home that has belonged to his family for generations.
/> The man at Charles Blakey's door has a proposition almost too strange for words. The stranger offers him $50,000 in cash to spend the summer in Charles's basement, and Charles cannot even begin to guess why. The beautiful house has been in the Blakey family for generations, but Charles has just lost his job and is behind on his mortgage payments. The money would be welcome. But Charles Blakey is black and Anniston Bennet is white, and it is clear that the stranger wants more than a basement view.
There is something deeper and darker about his request, and Charles does not need any more trouble. But financial necessity leaves him no choice. Once Anniston Bennet is installed in his basement, Charles is cast into a role he never dreamed of. Anniston has some very particular requests for his landlord, and try as he might, Charles cannot avoid being lured into Bennet's strange world. At first he resists, but soon he is temptedâ??tempted to understand a set of codes that has always eluded him, tempted by the opportunity to understand the secret ways of white folks.
Charles's summer with a man in his basement turns into an exploration of inconceivable worlds of power and manipulation, and unimagined realms of humanity. Walter Mosley pierces long-hidden veins of justice and morality with startling insight into the deepest mysteries of human natu… (mer)
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There are certain books that just sneak up on you and grab hold for dear life. The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley was one of those books. To say I devoured this book would be an understatement, but I simply devoured this book. I started it on a whim in the afternoon and I resisted putting it down to go to sleep, that is how engrossing this book is.

The premise is intriguing in itself. Charles is a black man who lives in his house, which has been in his family for generations. Fired from his banking job for embezzlement, he is starting to run out of funds. He has some African masks that are worth a lot of money, but it would take years for those to sell and he needs funds now.

Anniston Bennet, a rich white man, shows up on Charles' doorstep with a proposition- boatloads of cash if Charles would allow him to live in his basement for a few months.

Charles will eventually take the deal (spoiler, but it is in the title) and as the man moves in, he realizes Anniston's furniture is a cage in which Anniston will live and Charles is to be his jailer/warden. The big question is why. That is the joy of the book.

I am going to resist spoilers since the conversations between the two men are what build this book, but the book isn't just their conversations, in fact, they have only a few conversations. The book is about who Charles is and how did he get to the place he is in, what his relationships are like, and why does he just sort of coast through life.

When I was discussing this book with my father, his initial question was- is it about race? My answer was, race has something to do with it, but it isn't front and center. This is a book about relationships and how one lives a life with elements of race thrown in. Race cannot be ignored, Charles is poor and black, while Anniston is rich and white, but to boil it to a race book would be cheating the fuller thrust of the book.

I had not read a Mosley book before and after reading this one, I am ready for more of his. This is simply a great book, but I will warn you, Charles is a womanizer and there is lots of sex in this book. I was actually a bit surprised by how much, but it has to do with Charles' character.

I gave this one 4 stars, leaning on 4.5 stars. I have not stopped thinking about this book since reading it. ( )
  Nerdyrev1 | Nov 23, 2022 |
The type of book that keeps you reading but fails to deliver a satisfying conclusion. I still enjoyed it overall, but I was hoping for more. ( )
  BibliophageOnCoffee | Aug 12, 2022 |
On opening the book I discovered that it was written in 2004 which caught me by surprise, for some reason I had assumed that it had been written in the 1950's. I later discovered that Mosley is a very prolific writer who is best known for his crime novels so my first impressions were very wide of the mark. The book is split into three roughly equal sized parts which neatly divide the story into it's phases. The first part introduces us to Charles Blakey, a young man who is a bit of a loser with little direction to his life. He is at severe risk of losing his home which has been in his family for many years, and he cannot find a job due to a previous indiscretion.

The second and third parts introduce and involve our mysterious "man in the basement", Anniston Bennet. Out of the blue Bennet offers him $50,000 to rent his basement for the summer. Initially Blakey declines this offer at it seems far too strange, but, after the financial pressure on him grows too much he decides to accept the offer. From here on the story gets very strange and turns into a bit of a commentary on the human condition. At this point I imagine that the book will frustrate some readers as it is quite different from the earlier pages and I am led to believe it is a bit of a departure for him as a writer as well.

Fortunately I was not frustrated, I was drawn into it more and I needed to know what was going to occur. I can't say that I got everything there is to get from the book, I am sure I missed plenty, but I still found it very readable. I couldn't say for certain if the tale is allegorical or not but there is certainly more to the story than immediately meets the eye. Some of the conversations between Charles and Anniston really made me think and the book has been on my mind since I finished it. There are a number of topics covered and there is also a story line about his family's heritage and slavery throughout.

Despite thinking this may be a bit in-accessible I really enjoyed it and I would read some more of Walter Mosley's work should it cross my path in the future. ( )
  Brian. | Jul 25, 2021 |
Not *quite* a thriller or horror book, but it feels like it belongs in that category.
A fairly ordinary man in this 30s, Charles was recently let go from his job and feels like he has no direction in life, and no one really sees him, he's as good as invisible.
He's approached by a stranger, asking to rent his basement--Charlie immediately dismisses the idea, he doesn't want a housemate. It's only later when he finds he's late on his mortgage payment, and no one in town will hire him, that he starts to reconsider renting out his basement.
But why is this strange fellow asking to rent his dusty old basement?
This story gets more and more strange, and yet it doesn't fully tip into the supernatural that horror tends to, but some of the concepts are so bizarre it seems like it could. I felt very unresolved at the end of this book, but the writing is excellent, and thought-provoking. ( )
  Pepperwings | Aug 7, 2020 |
An African American young man, Charles Blakey, who comes from an old Long Island Family dating back before the Revolution, finds he's broke and takes a boarder into his basement, a white man, Anniston Bennet, who wished to be jailed in the basement to atone for his sins. Or something like that.

They have many discussions, which I think might be deep, but I found them mostly confusing. Along the way, Blakey gets himself together and stops being such a useless person, or something. I'm not sure this kind of Mosley is appropriate for vacation reading. As usual, however, Mosley keeps reminding me that I don't know a damn thing about the lives of African Americans, and should be very wary of the stereotypes one gets from our racist, and generally lazy, news sources. ( )
  lgpiper | Jun 21, 2019 |
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Mosley, Walterprimär författarealla utgåvorbekräftat
Hudson, ErnieBerättaremedförfattarevissa utgåvorbekräftat
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"Mr. Blakey?" the small white man asked.
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Fiction. African American Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:Hailed as a masterpiece-the finest work yet by an American novelist of the first rank-this is the mysterious story of a young black man who agrees to an unusual bargain to save the home that has belonged to his family for generations.
The man at Charles Blakey's door has a proposition almost too strange for words. The stranger offers him $50,000 in cash to spend the summer in Charles's basement, and Charles cannot even begin to guess why. The beautiful house has been in the Blakey family for generations, but Charles has just lost his job and is behind on his mortgage payments. The money would be welcome. But Charles Blakey is black and Anniston Bennet is white, and it is clear that the stranger wants more than a basement view.
There is something deeper and darker about his request, and Charles does not need any more trouble. But financial necessity leaves him no choice. Once Anniston Bennet is installed in his basement, Charles is cast into a role he never dreamed of. Anniston has some very particular requests for his landlord, and try as he might, Charles cannot avoid being lured into Bennet's strange world. At first he resists, but soon he is temptedâ??tempted to understand a set of codes that has always eluded him, tempted by the opportunity to understand the secret ways of white folks.
Charles's summer with a man in his basement turns into an exploration of inconceivable worlds of power and manipulation, and unimagined realms of humanity. Walter Mosley pierces long-hidden veins of justice and morality with startling insight into the deepest mysteries of human natu

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Utgåvor: 031615931X, 158621585X

 

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