Somewhere in Darkness by Walter Dean Myers.
Apple Signature, Scholastic, New York, 1992.
Contemporary/historical fiction, 168 pages.
Lexile: 640L .
AR Level: 4.4 (worth 6.0 points) .
NOTE: Despite the reading level, this follows a tenth grader.
Nearly fifteen, Jimmy’s living in Harlem with Mama Jean, not having much direction in life, when his long-absent father suddenly shows up and wants to take him to Chicago. Jimmy starts on the road trip only to find more questions than answers.
Although Walter Dean Myers should be an incomparable author, throughout this book my mind kept flashing to two more recent books. One was Nic Stone’s Clean Getaway, which involves a sudden cross-country family road trip with similar vibes – although that protagonist, and intended reading age, are younger.
The other is reference-heavy graphic novel New Kid, where protagonist Jordan mentions how attending a primarily white institution, he’s often handed gritty novels of the streets which bear little resemblance to his own life experiences in a middle class, two parent family.
This was published in Apple Signature and oddly marketed alongside books about third and fifth graders, although Jimmy is fourteen and in tenth grade. All the covers are tepid. Although the 1990s don’t seem that far off to some of us, this story would be firmly historical fiction today, if only for the use of pay phones!
Jimmy’s a smart kid who coasted through freshman year and is now underperforming, struggling to care, and skipping school. Never stated directly, he seems to be depressed and sees the school psychologist. Everyone is well aware of his intelligence but can’t improve his motivation.
While not explicitly stated, their family also struggles financially. Myers shows this in small, sometimes poignant ways – the slightly broken umbrella Mama Jean uses, Jimmy brushing his teeth with baking soda, them walking up the stairs because the elevator is perpetually broken.
This theme continues both with Mama Jean and with Cliff, Jimmy’s father, although Jimmy’s attitude changes over the course of the story. He loves Mama Jean, but as the story progresses he comes to feel responsibility toward her. Mama Jean was my favorite – Myers writes her impeccably despite his spare language so she feels vivid in her few scenes. She also demonstrates the type of informal kinship practices which often go unrecognized. Mama Jean brings mild religion (occasional mentions of God’s providence) although this is a secular book. Cliff’s prison interactions with Black Muslims are also mentioned.
Cliff has been gone most of Jimmy’s life and never contacted his son, didn’t even know what he looked like. Jimmy feels indifferent, even stressed by the sudden drastic change in his own life, but starts to recognize and call out Cliff’s hypocrisy. We readers, and Jimmy, eventually learn this road trip is spurned by Cliff’s desire to prove to his son that he wasn’t a murderer. Spoiler, we never find out if Cliff did the murder he was imprisoned for, but that doesn’t matter much.
As Jimmy points out, Cliff did engage in thefts and other violence, but his biggest crime was never interacting with his son. He tries to put this on Jimmy, but Jimmy’s too smart to fall for that and wonders instead why his father, locked up with nothing but time, never bothered to write or reach out.
Cliff continues to lie and chase fantasies. The whole situation is rough, and it’s clear that they have almost no good choices available. At the end we aren’t sure about Jimmy’s educational journey. But he seems more confident, and if he isn’t certain yet what he wants, his father has at least shown him one path he doesn’t want to take. Myers manages to imbue this novel with a sense of hope not based on any events or external forces, but simply a change of attitude within Jimmy himself.
The next three paragraphs have major spoilers. So many content warnings, although they unspool gradually during the novel. The twenty-year-old downstairs neighbor makes suggestive comments. Jimmy also later meets another girl who seems to like him.
Cliff has escaped from prison and is on the lam. He repeatedly engages in petty theft and then more serious acts, stealing money, cars, and food. Cliff encourages Jimmy to engage in physical violence, leaves him alone at a hotel room, and benignly neglects him by forgetting meals. Cliff also gets drunk.
Then Cliff gets caught by law enforcement and nearly gets Jimmy wrapped up in the same event. Jimmy is left stranded in rural Tennessee with no adult or guardian. End of major spoilers.
Part of my particular problem is it’s a classic bildungsroman, a coming of age novel about a boy’s relationship with his father, and I’ve rarely enjoyed them. With many points and choices to discuss, I could see this as a small group read for upper middle school or early high school, especially because it isn’t a linguistically challenging book, but has the emotional complexity and interesting characters of a YA novel. It might be an interesting pick for an ESL group or a parent/teen group too since the adults around Jimmy factor into this book more than his peers.
Someone told me to try Bad Boy instead, so I’ve ordered it. Not sure what order this will hit the blog compared to other reviews, but so far I’ve loved Myers’ nonfiction, mostly liked his historical fiction, and been underwhelmed by his more contemporary works. That pattern holds true here.
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