Ice Berg Slim is a true master of the word. His dialogue is dazzling. His cast so real you can almost touch them. "Pimp" is the book to start with, but Trick Baby is just as good and stands alone as a brilliant example of American writing. Trick Baby is a term used for the offspring of a black prostitute who has given birth to a baby who is half white. The baby of a white John (client of the prostitute) is considered a trick baby. Half black. Half white. After his mother is gang raped and put into a secure mental hospital, White Folks (trick baby) falls into the company of Blue, a grifter con-man who teaches Folks the art of Con. How to hustle for money in downtown Chicago. Folks has an advantage as he looks like a peckerwood (white man) Blue and Folks play the con and earn lots of money on the grifter circuit. They play to close to danger and the con catches up with them. Quote from Trick Baby. Folks and Blue talk about religion. Blue: "My conviction is that God never existed. I believe the Bible was written by the slickest bunch of peckerwood grifters that ever crapped between two sandals" .... Brilliant! Read this book.
This is one of my favorite books. I fell in love with the main character Johnny O' brien and even tried to look him up to see if he was still alive! The story is about a mixed man who is so light he could pass for white. They referred to him as an Errol Flynn look alike in the book. If you google him you'll know the main character was FIONE! It tells of Johnny's black mother who was color struck and did not like black men. She married Johnny's father, an irish man, while he was drunk who soon left them after getting pressure from his family. Johnny's mother goes on to raise him by herself. After a tragic event, Johnny is left alone and taken up by his mentor/father figure (I forget his name but I think it's Blue). Blue teaches him how to con people out of money and pretty soon they're making big money together. Johnny is so loveable and his story telling is so raw. I initially rented it from the library but I've since bought it because I know I'll be reading it again!
