The White League by Thomas Zigal
Book Title: The White League
Author: Thomas Zigal
Genre: Fiction
My Grade: C+
# of Pages: 473
Summary: Blackmail, a secret organization hiding within the elite society of New Orleans, a white supremacist running for governor of Louisianna; these are the key ingredients in this fine Southern crawfish boil of a novel about guilt, privilege and racism in one of America's most exotic cities.
Coffee magnate Paul Blanchard's comfortable world is turned upside down when his old fraternity brother, Mark Morvant, threatens to expose the secret that Paul has been harboring for twenty years unless he bankrolls Morvant's bid for governor. More importantly, Morvant also demands that Paul secure the financial and political backing of a clandestine organization called The White League, a group he maintains is the real power in New Orleans, and has been for more than a century. Despite Paul's avowed belief that the group no longer exists, he is given just three weeks to bring the League on board the campaign, or Morvant will destroy him.
Blanchard's desperate pursuit of the truth uncovers family secrets, historical intrigue, and the underworld machinations of a dangerous group that has no qualms about resorting to murder to maintain its power. As his well-ordered world begins to collapse around him, Paul struggles with the moral consequences of his own past. Now it is up to him to placate Morvant, outsmart The White League, and save his family, his reputation, and ultimately, his life.
My Thoughts: This book was really nothing remarkable, but I thought it was going to be, especially with the subject matter that it was dealing with. It had too many underdeveloped characters, was anti-climactic, and at times a little too message happy. But it wasn't totally lacking in being an entertaining read and often I did find myself riveted. That pretty much sums it up, but for the sake of the more curious I will elaborate.
Zigal's writing was good and flowed quite nicely, though the timeline didn't. I often found myself asking, "Why isn't this guy at work?" And while he did try his best at fully fledged characters I think he overwhelmed himself by putting too many in there, so most of them only became half developed at best. The only one that achieved three demensional status was our protagonist himself and I think that's only because we had some insight into his inner thoughts and feelings.
My other big problem was with the resolution being too anti-climactic. I expected some sort of bang, not a pathetic fizzling out. If you want to analyze it, I guess you could say that's because most dark political dealings are resolved quietly under the table. You would think, though, to make the book a bit more exciting, Zigal would have had the resolution out in the open in some sort of dramatic affair.
As for my thoughts about the book being too "message happy" at times, that comes from the constant bombardment of "working class blacks: good; uptown rich whites: bad." Don't take that as me being racist, by all means I'm not, but beating your readers over the head with that can get a little old, fast. Especially when your characters don't really do anything to resolve any sort of racist issues until the end. They don't even start! I wouldn't have minded the message as much if we had someone attempting to resolve it all.
Zigal does redeem himself, though, by giving us a nice clean ending. All loose ends are appropriately tied and we know that things work out, which is always a nice thing in a book. The book does get a little dry and boring at times, but the issues and situations we're dealing with throughout the novel will keep you reading. Once you get past the first couple of chapters you'll find the going a little less rough, and the desire to keep reading a little stronger.
Next Book: True and False by David Mamet • review
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Author: Thomas Zigal
Genre: Fiction
My Grade: C+
# of Pages: 473
Summary: Blackmail, a secret organization hiding within the elite society of New Orleans, a white supremacist running for governor of Louisianna; these are the key ingredients in this fine Southern crawfish boil of a novel about guilt, privilege and racism in one of America's most exotic cities.
Coffee magnate Paul Blanchard's comfortable world is turned upside down when his old fraternity brother, Mark Morvant, threatens to expose the secret that Paul has been harboring for twenty years unless he bankrolls Morvant's bid for governor. More importantly, Morvant also demands that Paul secure the financial and political backing of a clandestine organization called The White League, a group he maintains is the real power in New Orleans, and has been for more than a century. Despite Paul's avowed belief that the group no longer exists, he is given just three weeks to bring the League on board the campaign, or Morvant will destroy him.
Blanchard's desperate pursuit of the truth uncovers family secrets, historical intrigue, and the underworld machinations of a dangerous group that has no qualms about resorting to murder to maintain its power. As his well-ordered world begins to collapse around him, Paul struggles with the moral consequences of his own past. Now it is up to him to placate Morvant, outsmart The White League, and save his family, his reputation, and ultimately, his life.
My Thoughts: This book was really nothing remarkable, but I thought it was going to be, especially with the subject matter that it was dealing with. It had too many underdeveloped characters, was anti-climactic, and at times a little too message happy. But it wasn't totally lacking in being an entertaining read and often I did find myself riveted. That pretty much sums it up, but for the sake of the more curious I will elaborate.
Zigal's writing was good and flowed quite nicely, though the timeline didn't. I often found myself asking, "Why isn't this guy at work?" And while he did try his best at fully fledged characters I think he overwhelmed himself by putting too many in there, so most of them only became half developed at best. The only one that achieved three demensional status was our protagonist himself and I think that's only because we had some insight into his inner thoughts and feelings.
My other big problem was with the resolution being too anti-climactic. I expected some sort of bang, not a pathetic fizzling out. If you want to analyze it, I guess you could say that's because most dark political dealings are resolved quietly under the table. You would think, though, to make the book a bit more exciting, Zigal would have had the resolution out in the open in some sort of dramatic affair.
As for my thoughts about the book being too "message happy" at times, that comes from the constant bombardment of "working class blacks: good; uptown rich whites: bad." Don't take that as me being racist, by all means I'm not, but beating your readers over the head with that can get a little old, fast. Especially when your characters don't really do anything to resolve any sort of racist issues until the end. They don't even start! I wouldn't have minded the message as much if we had someone attempting to resolve it all.
Zigal does redeem himself, though, by giving us a nice clean ending. All loose ends are appropriately tied and we know that things work out, which is always a nice thing in a book. The book does get a little dry and boring at times, but the issues and situations we're dealing with throughout the novel will keep you reading. Once you get past the first couple of chapters you'll find the going a little less rough, and the desire to keep reading a little stronger.
Next Book: True and False by David Mamet • review
Back to the Book List.