Close to the bone Book

Okay so picked up this book with no idea what it was going to be about only knowing the premise of a being a race related nobel with characters aimed to answer the age old question "What does it mean to be a black man?"...Too complex for words and definitely for a book with less than three hundred pages but it pulls it off in a quite entertaing and engrossing way..You are drawn into a meeting of black men all trying to answer that same question and gain some self awareness and clarity on their roles in society and their relationships..Three of the men are in relationships; one married to a mysterious black woman with a secret past, one dating a black girl ready for commitment although he is not really and then one man who is dating a white woman who he loves but she doesnt really feel the same..As you meet the men, hear their views then relive through flashbacks how intimately two of the men knew each other in college..I thoroughly enjoyed the basic relationship analysis Mr Lamar provides through the book and the conversations, arguments and insight are right on. As the lives of these characters intersect and merge throughout the book it is set against the secondary major aspect of the book which is the most high profile case in the century--of course the O.J. trial..In the minds of whites and blacks this trial and verdict is reviewed and the disturbing questions of "Would this matter if Nicole was a black woman" and "Do all black men harbor violent tendencies" were thought provoking and definitely a reason to look for more work on this author whose intelligent and racially oriented works remind me of a favorite author of mine, Richard Wright..Recommended if not just for the million and one questions it leaves you with and the opportunity to raise one of them up to see how the people in your life really feel..