Three Days Before the Shooting . . .

December 21, 2009
The publication of this behemoth compilation of Ellison's efforts toward his never-finished second novel is assuredly an event—readers will find much of what the author of Invisible Man
labored over for decades, and from which Juneteenth
was extracted. With multiple versions of and fragments from the massive work (assembled by editors John F. Callahan and Adam Bradley), this edition will have the greatest appeal to Ellison enthusiasts and scholars, as well as to readers interested in the punishing process of novelistic composition. This volume contains countless passages of breathtaking prose, touching upon America and its “mystic motto of national purpose violently aflutter.” The story that weaves through these drafts centers on the relationship between Alonzo Hickman, a black preacher, and the race-baiting senator raised by Hickman—Adam Sunraider, of ambiguous race, living as a white man and the object of an assassination plot. The sense of struggle and chaos, in terms of the nation's impossible desires and Ellison's creative drive, is chillingly palpable throughout. The editors have performed a true feat of literary archeology in gathering an astounding bulk of prose that's highly attuned to the deeply divided American condition.

Starred review from December 1, 2009
The unfinished second novel from Invisible Man author Ellison, an edited version of which appeared in 1999 under the title Juneteenth.

Ellison was born in Oklahoma City in 1914, seven years before the so-called Tulsa Race War would erupt. He left as soon as he could. In 1953, after Invisible Man made him famous, he wrote to a friend about his plans to travel home:"I've got to get real mad again, and talk with the old folks a bit. I've gone one Okla. book in me I do believe." Three Days is that book, and he spent the next 40 years working on it, never finishing—but along the way making a Rashomon of an apparently simple story line that deepens as it progresses. Editors Callahan and Bradley gather the vast manuscript that Ellison left, including his plans for the book and queries to himself:"What is the tragic mistake? And who makes it? As things stand we do begin before one tragic mistake, that of the Senator's, when he refuses to see Hickman and company." The Senator is a blustering bigot who, having taken his seat in the U.S. Senate, now impedes progressive legislation—but who has a quite explosive secret that involves a crusading African-American preacher whom the Senator's suitably racist secretary refers to as"the nigra Hickman." Hickman, parts King and parts Sharpton, is deft at sprinkling his specific here-and-now demands with citations from otherworldly authorities ("The Scriptures tell us that in life we are in death, and in death there is life"), but Senator and secretary take no heed. Alas, that's a mistake. Ellison sets his figures walking down long but eventually convergent paths, and though he did not live to finish his book, what he left is filled with sharply realized visions of ordinary life—wonderful descriptions of such things as"cold lemonade with the cakes of ice in them sitting out under the cool of the trees"—and careful studies of people as they speak and as they are, both tragic and comic.

A fascinating look inside Ellison's methods and concerns as a writer—and a great story as well.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 15, 2010
When he died in 1994, Ellison ("Invisible Man") left behind hundreds of manuscript pages and notes related to his unfinished second novel. A portion of the manuscript has previously been published as "Juneteenth", but this volume presents the entire collection of material in all of its unedited glory. Callahan (Lewis & Clark Coll.), literary executor of Ellison's estate, and Bradley ("Ralph Ellison in Progress") do a fine job of providing the background of the manuscript and placing it within the larger context of Ellison's career as one of the most highly regarded African American authors of the 20th century. Ellison's brilliance, particularly in his use of dialog and his tackling of difficult themes, occasionally flashes through this uneven artifact. VERDICT Despite Ellison's popularity and reputation, this book is too fragmented and lengthy to appeal to the casual reader. Advanced researchers will benefit the most from the insight provided into Ellison's creative process.Alison M. Lewis, Drexel Univ., Philadelphia

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2009
Ellisons eloquent, dreamlike writing fills more than 1,000 pages of this book, his long-awaitedstill unfinishednovel after the acclaimed Invisible Man. Culled from Ellisons drafts, his notes, and those of his wife, Fanny, this book brings together four decades of work, a portion of which was published posthumously as Juneteenth in 1999. The allegorical, lyrical novel is presented in three books in various stages of completion. It centers on the complex relationship between A. Z. Hickman, a blues musician turned preacher, and Bliss, an orphan of undetermined race, whom Hickman raises as a boy preacher. As a teen, Bliss runs off and develops his skills as a flimflammer, ultimately emerging in the U.S. Senate as Senator Sunraider. Hickman searches in vain for Bliss, but when he learns of a threat to Sunraider, the two are reunited in an orgy of reexamination of their lives and circuitous paths. Book 1 is a first-person narrative by McIntyre, a white reporter who witnesses the shooting of Sunraider on the floor of the Senate and the attempt by Hickman to save a man known as a charismatic race-baiter. Book 2, the basis for Juneteenth, traces the relationship between Hickman and Bliss/Sunraider through a dialogue between them, an inner reflection of their coming together and their falling apart. Book 3 includes several fragments of earlier portions of the novel, deeper character portrayals, and alternative paths of action as Ellison struggled to bring all the pieces together. He is masterful at evoking the language of common black folks, preachers, press and politicians, and charlatans and flimflammers. Because of its length and construction, this book demands that readers be students of Ellison and his writing process, willing to appreciate and stay with a sometimes confusing cast of characters and a nonlinear plot, to imagine how the parts fit together. An incredible novel of identity and authenticity, sin and atonement.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)