Crimes of All Kinds

While reading Cotton Comes to Harlem, I was a little taken back by the language used and the harshness of the writing. I wasn’t expecting such detail, that really made me cringe at some points like when they are talking about that guys brains being blown up. At times I wonder what Himes was trying to get at with that much detail? Another thing that got to me, and I know that we touched on this in class, was the long list of crimes that were ridiculous and foolish. Some of the stuff like the woman getting killed with an ax because the pork chops were burnt, were so crazy that I didn’t want to believe that it could actually happen. When reading that part, I thought of the Kool-Aid argument that took place in Detroit, Michigan. Apparently two men got into a fight over making Kool-Aid incorrectly. It ended with one of the men getting shot and hospitalized. I guess those things seems so stupid that we choose to ignore the fact that they actually happen, because we are hoping they don’t. This is one book that has drawn me in. I am interested as to see what the rest of the book has to offer.