By Esther Callens
Glen Burke’s debut novel, Jesse (Koehler Books), is definitely a distinctive read. Clearly, this fictional work paints a graphic picture of the South. Likewise this is as it should be during the segregated sixties. However, intertwined within the bitter racisms that were considered the standard of that era, are also tales of abuse, alcoholism, rape and numerous other societal enigmas that many upstanding families chose to keep behind closed doors.
The story setting takes place in a small rural Alabama town. A little boy named Jessup Christopher Savorie aka Jesse, is the central character. Because he is of mixed race, he is often the object of many beatings, be they physical and/or emotional. Unfortunately for him, this is one of today’s norms if you are considered part of the Black ethnicity attending an all-white school. All the same, Jesse is special in so many ways and this puzzles the people that know him.
Although Jesse is poor and has no relatives, he is blessed far more than the town’s richest citizen. This comes by way of his innate ability. Not only was he was born with a gift that gives him exceptional physical dexterity but he has supernatural powers that let him see into a person’s soul in order that this person may be saved through him. Jesse also possesses a loving demeanor that allows him to treat all people, Black and white, the same no matter what they do to him. This proves to be quite shocking for the good town folks and they are in for a number of surprises. Jesse Glen Alan Burke is proven to be quite the storyteller.
