Free Burning, author Bayo Ojikutu, (2006, 383 pages) If this were a hardcover book, I would have sworn someone mixed up the dust jacket. The synopsis on the jacket made me intrigued. It reads: “Tommie Simms was supposed to be the community hope, the young man from the neighborhood who made good. He attended a state university, married a respectable woman, and landed a position at a white-collar insurance firm. Tommie ignores the gnawing sense that he doesn’t belong on this path. . . Soon Tommie is laid off, and he begins to see himself as just another faceless entity on the city’s fringe. After each fruitless job interview, Tommie’s wife withdraws from him further, and in the mirror, he faces the reflection of failure his family never intended for him… ” Spoilers ahead. I didn’t finish this book. I pushed myself to read to page 50. In that time the protagonist is offered not one but two different employment opportunities. He doesn’t accept either despite having a newborn, a wife, and bills piling up. He states, “I set up interviews for Tuesdays morning, never earlier than 10 am, never later than noon.” (28) forgive me for sounding judgy, but that is a limited window of time to look for employment. Worse, he turns down one job because it’s outside his window. The boss called before 9:30 a.m. and offered $26,5000 plus benefits to save them. “I told him I had to talk to my wife about his glorious opportunity, and I hung up, laughing as I dropped back to the pillow.” I can’t help but think a college student or not would have negotiated pay or perhaps the pay was reasonable for that period. The other opportunity came when his own mother stated, “You want me to talk to my supervisor,” (she works at the FORD automobile plant). “I laugh and grab my buffalo wings (49).” Once again, he declined an opportunity to pivot and support himself and his family. I was done with the book and its protagonist, who clearly needed therapy to deal with depression and the burden of being a black man who made it out of the neighborhood, or a positive role model or support groups to teach him about adulting. I wished him well, but like with a real life toxic individual, I had to move on. Have you read this book?
