Luscious Literature - Tom Grimes' Redemption Song

By James Keough
Collegian Reporter
February 14, 2007

Redemption Song, by Tom Grimes, is immediately a rare novel. Literary merit, however, is not the sole factor working to separate it from its neighbors on the shelf. In fact, it’s not even on the shelf, at least not exclusively. Redemption Song is featured, in its entirety, online in the web-based literary magazine NarrativeMagazine.com. Viewed as an Adobe Reader file, the novel is downloadable once the free subscription form is filled out. At no point is the reader charged to become a member of the site or to download Grimes’ novel or any other work featured on the site.

Internet bargains aside, the novel definitely stands on its own. Grimes creates a compelling tale of happenstance and providence as the two main characters, T and Ivan, move from Provincetown, Maine to New York City in search of wealth and drugs. Set in the tumultuous times of the late ’70s/early ’80s, the story follows T, a white man, and Ivan, a black man, as they move from scene to scene, carrying on discussions of racism, prejudice, class systems, drugs, addiction, capitalism, Marxism, and finally, the art scene of New York City.

The story is told from the point of view of T, an NYU PhD. dropout turned homeless drug addict, who speaks with a strangely moral and philosophical tone. Ivan, his best friend, is an outspoken dropout of Columbia University who drives the story through his inherent desire to ascend to the warped, backdoor version of the American Dream that he and T create along the way.

Grimes fills the story with odd events and characters, creating a cartoonish tone that clashes with its heavy list of topics. However, plausibility is not the issue for Grimes, the dialogue is. The strange array of characters that Grimes develops, ranging from a Puerto Rican homosexual drug dealer/pimp to a South African crime boss turned art investor, equips the dialogue to access topics that would be totally unavailable to a normal novel. It is with this strange boldness that Grimes threads morality and hopefulness through this story of capitalistic addiction and social legitimacy.

The story depends, however, on the readers’ ability to suspend their disbelief as T and Ivan’s tales become taller and taller. Also, the reader must be able to participate in oftentimes avoided racial, political, social, and emotional topics.

At the end of it all, Grimes cleverly constructs a moving dialogue built on animated characters and poignant one-liners that stimulates the willing reader. To seal the deal, Grimes will be giving a reading at La Salle in the near future.

keoughj1@lasalle.edu