Them

A Novel

By: Nathan McCall

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Barlowe, a single African-American in his 40s, shares a ramshackle house with his 20-something nephew in the old Fourth Ward of downtown Atlanta, a neighborhood known as the center of the civil-rights movement and the former home of Martin Luther King, Jr. Barlowe works as a printer and passes the time reading books from the neighborhood library and hanging out with other local black men at the corner store.

When Sean and Sandy, a white married couple from Philadelphia, buy and renovate the house next door in anticipation of a neighborhood "turnaround", everyone tries at first to go about their daily business. But fear and suspicion begin to build as more and more new whites move in and make changes, and once familiar people and places disappear.

©2007 Nathan McCall (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"[A] trenchant, slyly humorous debut novel....Masterfully orchestrated and deeply disturbing illustrations of the depth of the racial divide play out....McCall nails [the] details again and again, and the results, if less than hopeful, are poignant and grimly funny." ( Publishers Weekly)

Outstanding

Have to say this was one of the best audionook I've listened to. Really enjoyed the narrator too.
Interesting plot line as well... thought -provoking.
Take a chance on this one!

Helliva Book

loved it, developed characters brilliantly. just as good as Make me wanna holler. highly recommend.

Great story.

Narrator was great I loved Make Me Wanna Hollar. Nathan McCall did it again. Very thought provoking and too the point

Awesome

Loved it! Highly recommend to all, regardless of race. An eye opener and dialogue starter.

Gentrification—Caesar

I teach this text in my Black Authors course. It’s an excellent text not only for its literary merit, but it also serves as a good segue to introduce students to critical theory, such as social constructivism and so much more. McCall strategically uses “flags” as an antagonist, and I would argue, a metonym—like Caesar—for the US government. For some reason, I didn’t feel the reading voice for Tyrone fit the character.

WHOOOOOOOOA

This book needs to be read by everyone because ignorance, fear and racism isn't always one-sided...

Two Vastly Different Worlds

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book isn't for everyone but attempts to bring honest understandings about race relations between blacks and whites can be pretty interesting.

Which scene was your favorite?

The talks at the fence were interesting. I kept wishing that the story would stop being so realistic though and become more idealistic but that would take away from the book's statement that things are what they are.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Kind of

Any additional comments?

I love the narrator. He's very talented but some of his white people voices made me laugh. I don't know if he was intentionally being funny.

Good read

I am from the areas mentioned in the book so it's nice to have that cultural connection to the story.

A look at Race Issues

It is not often that both sides of racial issues are seen so clearly as in this book. I want all my white friends to read it so that we can consider and discuss key attitudes , emotions and loyalties. My feeling is that it was an honest attempt on the part of the author. The characters are credible, I've said so many of the same things myself. Please write more Nathan, and please make more of this available on Audible!

Great Read, thank you.

Today’s issues in a well written and performed novel. I would highly recommend this book.