Tuff

Just brilliant

“Ms. Dunleavy had been Winston's teacher last fall when he attended the GED preparatory program at the community center. Her notions of English didn't feel right in his mouth. For Winston language was an extension of his soul. And if his speech, filled with double negatives, improper conjugations of the verb "to be", and pluralized plurals (e.g., womens), was wrong, then his thoughts were wrong. And oftentimes her corrections had the effect of reducing him to ethnic errata.”Tuff is the second novel by Man Booker Prize-winning American author, Paul Beatty. Summer in Spanish Harlem, and Winston Foshay (Tuffy to his friends) is looking for a way to survive the year. He has a wife and son to support, and has seen the inside of a prison cell more than once, so something that doesn’t involve drugs would be good. While his good friends plan something as audacious as it is foolish, Tuffy has acquired a mentor in the Big Brother program, Sheldon Throckmorton, a black rabbi who has arranged for those closest to Tuffy to help him decide his future. Suddenly, against most advice, Tuffy is running for Council in the East Harlem Eighth District of the NYC local council elections, on the promise of financial gain from a patron. Will Tuffy disappoint?Beatty gives the reader a cast of characters who all have their individual quirks and foibles. Most get at least a vignette to explain their background, if not a whole chapter. His plot takes a few surprising turns, so sumo wrestling is just one feature that is unexpected. There are quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, and Beatty has a talent for leading his characters into moments of insight and perceptiveness. His extensive knowledge of the era and the social class about which he writes is apparent in every paragraph, and this is a novel that would appeal especially to readers familiar with Spanish Harlem at the cusp of the twenty-first century. This one is even better than The White Boy Shuffle. Funny and clever.

good

I really enjoyed this. Thought provoking, touching, insightful & funny - & it does reflect our society.

This book plays incredibly on the mind and you cant help but keep on reading. It's stunning in it's wordplay, as can be expected of Paul Beatty. And while not being as poetic as "White Boy Shuffle" it's almost as moving, just as thought provoking and equally as hip in it's urban images. The issues it deals with are much more than words on the page, they are real life issues to many of the people mirrored by Tuff, and Tuff puts them in a totally different situation and can no doubt influence and encourage a ghetto community to make good of it's talents - even if that is a Sumo wrestling competition in a New York park in an election campaign!

I really enjoyed Slumberland and The Sellout, but this was very disappointing - obviously a much earlier work

The story of Winston 'Tuffy' Foshay, a disadvantaged young man immersed in New York's underworld, who mends his ways and embarks on an outlandish political campaign, appealed to my sense of social justice. Furthermore, the setting promised to delve into the most thriving and dynamic musical culture we have heard from in recent decades; hip hop, a chronically under used context in literature. Reviews heightened expectations with endorsements of Beatty's characterisation and use of dialogue.I could not have been more disappointed. Had those reviewers spent their lives reading telephone books or DIY instruction manuals? Surely, only that kind of material could make someone welcome this work with anything but derision.The plot is plagued by gaping chasms. The heist that opens the proceedings could not be further removed from reality if it had been penned by Terry Pratchett. What follows is based on the events that transpired there. Sadly, the meandering narrative does nothing but ascend to higher realms of implausibility.The much vaunted dialogue is so manufactured I'd swear Beatty produced it in a factory. Littered with meaningless profanity, we quickly become desensitised to any deviation in mood or atmosphere. A deadly argument can and is easily misconstrued for a jocular exchange.The characters enlisted in this contrived episode are, without exception, mind numbing. Even Tuffy lacks any humanising features. He seems to merely be a vehicle for Beatty to espouse his knowledge of world cinema, a trait of Tuffy's that every other character shares our disinterest in.Beatty uses flashback heavily to introduce new actors, yet after ploughing through paragraph after paragraph of pedestrian drivel, we are brought to a complete irrelevance where we had no desire to go in the first place.I had hoped Tuffy's foray into the world of electioneering would highlight the hypocrisy that besets modern politics. Maybe even hint at the similarities between Tuffy's criminal past and his political present. By the time the novel (eventually) reaches this point, I have lost all hope of such nuanced insight. Nevertheless, I had expected something better, and far more responsible than what followed. Tuffy's "hysterical" campaign consists of an agenda so childish and ill-considered it makes Veritas look like a reasonable ballot choice.This book had the potential to achieve a great deal, and do so in an entertaining way. Instead, it can only be considered a hindrance to the worthy causes it disastrously collides with.

alles bestens

Beatty's language and humor cut like a knife. At once tender and funny as hell.

Un roman de qualité qui déjoue beaucoup d'idées reçues. Je pense qu'il est indispensable de se laisser aller pour le découvrir. Bonne lecture.

Winston "Tuffy" Foshay is running for city council because, well, because he needs to. He may not know it, but running for public office is standing between him and all sorts of trouble in his Spanish Harlem neighborhood. A big man, he's also much more than just his "tuff" persona. He's as memorable a character as I've come across in American fiction, and he's a bit like a Huck Finn for Harlem."Tuff," by Paul Beatty, is, like all of Beatty's other novels, playful and serious at the same time. It's not concerned with being the "typical urban ghetto slice-of-life novel" (and indeed, it upsets the conventions of said genre, in ways that are often humorous but always truthful). Beatty is an author who upsets the conventions of whatever he's working in (the coming-of-age story, the mystery, the racial satire), and here is no different. Just when you think you have Winston pegged, he and Beatty surprise you. For such a short novel (only 259 pages), Beatty manages to play on so many tropes that your head will spin.I first came to know Paul Beatty's work through "The White Boy Shuffle," and his Booker Prize for "The Sellout" is richly deserved. "Tuff" isn't perfect, but it's entertaining and enlightening enough to be worth your time. Give Tuffy your vote, and you won't be disappointed.

Quickly turning into my favorite author. Witty erudite, perfectly made sentences - a joy to read.