Freedom of Words
What George Pelecanos can do so effortlessly is put us in motion, inserting us into the story in progress, and stepping us out at the last page, feeling that the lives therein continue.
The Man Who Came Uptown is a book that creates this perpetual motion and is Pelecanos at his optimum.
Michael Hudson is in prison but has found himself changed by the librarian Anna Byrne. In the world of books she brings him, he discovers that many people go through difficulties such as his. He is opened to the possibilities of his own life.
Hudson is freed through the efforts of Phil Ornazian, an investigator for his lawyer. Ornazian is a man with agendas all his own. Hudson joins the straight side of life. He gets a job and works hard knowing that he is building something.
One of the first things he does is start his own library. A chance meeting with Anna has tremulous connotations as they both feel a connection that is more than surface.
Ornazian appears, needing a wheelman for a venture. In and out, easy cash taking down drug dealers who have no one to complain to. For Hudson it’s payment, for Ornazian it’s down payment. This is a book about the human spirit, human failings…humans.
~ June Lorraine
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