Tatum's Alibi

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Synopsis

Best Described by William Schraufnagel "I finished reading Tatum's Alibi , and I enjoyed it. It moves economically, first introducing a wide range of characters in close biographical detail with an impressive realism and variety of different people who follow different paths in life. I thought the author gave us just enough detail to understand the main characters of the story, with a focus on the narrator's family and close acquaintances, to invest our interest in them, without spending undue time and drawing out the sketches. I liked the specificity of where each character attended college, why they made the choices they did, and how their personalities informed their eventual life trajectories." "After all the character introductions, the author takes us into a story whose main components are various love affairs and intrigues, until a double murder adds a sense of danger and urgency to the narrative. At this point, all the characters converge upon the small town in Wisconsin which forms the story's setting. Because we have been introduced to the characters, their love and support for each other is totally believable. I won't give away the details of the plot, but the ending is heart-warming and emotional, and the author has earned the feelings of happiness, relief, and joy that he evokes from the characters (and the sensitive reader)." "There is a slight ideological background of racial politics when there is a danger of scapegoating the young African-American character, but the narrator's integrity and loyalty to the character--a steady and consistent point of view throughout the narrative--keeps the racist perspective at the margins, and the atmosphere of racism never takes over or oppresses the atmosphere of the story. "The narrator's love story and the other romantic intrigues are convincing, and the author has a real talent for portraying the love and strength of the narrator's extended family--this last aspect will probably stick with me the longest. Final