Dark Dude

I’m starting to feel estrogen-deprived.  This will be the last book by and about men that I review for a while, even though I’ve had quite a streak of great reads.  Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos is another novel set during the turbulent late ’60s (I think–there’s mention of Viet Nam, Nixon, and hippies), and fifteen-year old Rico’s Harlem neighborhood is struggling with poverty, racial tension, and the invasion of heroin and other drugs.  Like Junior in Sherman Alexie’s True Diary, Rico was afflicted by illness as a young child, but his mother is unable to express her relief at his survival; instead she complains about “the burdens” now placed on the Cuban family—Rico’s father must take on two jobs to pay off the medical bills, he’s an alcoholic, and suffered a heart attack not long ago.  Rico’s mother also tries to keep him within sight, but this protective gesture doesn’t feel like motherly concern and at times Rico suspects she envies him his white skin.  Rico aspires to be a comic book writer, but his illustrator and best friend, Jimmy, becomes addicted to heroin; after getting harassed and jumped by a group of black male students, Rico stops attending school even though he earned the top score on a standardized test for intelligence.  When his parents threaten to send him to his ex-Marine uncle in Miami, Rico devises a plan to emulate his literary hero, Huck Finn, by “lightin’ out” to Wisconsin where his Puerto Rican “big bro” Gilberto is attending a small, private college.  I think the originality of this narrative impressed me most; the writing is somewhat flat and not as sophisticated as Sammy & Juliana, but Dark Dude (like True Diary) is a story about male aspiration and that’s important to me.  This novel has what some other urban narratives lack: a model of transformation.  Rico is picked on at school and unfairly punished at home, but he still has ONE male role model who has found a way out: after winning the lottery, Gilberto decides to leave the squalor of his NYC neighborhood and try his luck in the Midwest.  As ridiculous as the idea seems at first, Gilberto’s vision of a different way of life eventually saves not only himself, but Rico and Jimmy as well.  In Wisconsin, Rico develops a love of nature and finds a kindred spirit in Sheri, who is white but also has an alcoholic father.  No longer persecuted for not “looking like” a Latino, Rico nonetheless runs into trouble and ultimately realizes that he can’t take on the mess that other people will always dish out.  After a year he begins to long for his family, and when Sheri’s mother offers to help him get into an arts school in NYC, Rico’s future begins to take shape.  There were two moments when I laughed out loud, and though I wouldn’t call this book the equal of Sammy & Juliana or True Diary, it’s a nice complement and an interesting story told from a unique point of view.  You can watch the trailer below: