Reviews for To Love Mercy

The average rating for To Love Mercy based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-02-15 00:00:00 Patricia Mullaney Frank S. Joseph's "To Love Mercy," is a page-turner that brings post-WW II Chicago back to life. It will make you laugh and cry. The story is told mostly in plain language from the viewpoint of the Jewish boy Steve and his Black buddy Sass, but it's for grown folks. I'm not sure today's kids will understand it because so much of the landscape has changed. What hasn't changed much is the racial suspicions and disparities that magnify even the smallest injury. Steve's grandfather owns a Bronzeville theater patronized by Black people, where Sass's mother works. Sass's father is a minister and they have to scrap for every penny. When Sass and his friends annoy and beg Steve's grandfather and father for money after a White Sox game, Steve accidentally injures Sass and insists on visiting him in the hospital. They make friends while running all over Chicago on buses and L trains, only to worry their folks. Dora, who belongs to Sass's father's church and works as a maid for Steve's parents, worries even more that their mixing will lead to trouble. And Dora's long-ago traumatized son Joseph, unknown to her, haunts Southside alleys, picturing himself as a poetic king of the Ethiopian Hebrews. Every one of these characters, and the places they visit, comes alive so much it really did make me laugh and cry. The author, a former news reporter, adds a postlude with snippets of interviews with people who remembered that time and place. He apparently planned two sequels, but "To Love Mercy" stands alone as a fine novel.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-04-25 00:00:00 Rhonda Terry A fun and engaging look at late 1940s Chicago and a friendship between a black boy and a white Jewish kid. They take a rollicking unauthorized tour of Chicago. The end has several interviews with residents of Chicago from that period. Looking forward to the sequels.