The Last Noel (Hardcover)

Malone's richly textured work is accomplished using a panoply of methodology: his osmotic knowledge of history, his appreciation of music, his unerring ear for the cadences of idiomatic dialogue, and his encyclopedic compendium of pop culture. These provide the musculature which clothe his elegant twelve day framework. Malone always has great heart, compassion, and humor to spare. This novel is no exception as he takes us deep into the lives of characters who live side by side, but who are poles apart.

For over a generatioin, Malone sweeps the reader along with Noni and Kaye as they grow up in the new south. We bring our own memories to the civil rights struggle, to a frightening number of murders and assassinations, Vietnam, and Watergate: events which shook our nation. We sing along with snippets of pop songs quoted, and remember mini-skirts, high boots, Afros, and can luxuriate in recalling Noni's tried and true classical piano music. The love story between rich, white, upper crust Noni and poor, black, lowest rung on the social ladder, Kaye creates a sexual tension which is palpable. The brave and decent struggles of these two who are forbidden to love is captivating and the denouement will prove that you can read while crying and snubbing into an industrial strength tissue.

Sound like too much perfection? Well, one negative criticism might be that Noni is a heroine too good to be true. Shouldn't we be told more about her weaknesses? We know what they are, but they are not as fully developed as Kaye's. However... Charles Dickens (to whom Malone is often compared) created many female characters who are much more lacking in the life-like department than Noni is. Generally, Malone understands the way a woman thinks and feels. More so than most male writers. But is Noni, whom I loved, a smidgen too angelic? Nit picking aside, she is still unforgettable.

When the subject is miscegenation, inevitably, Desdemona and Othello are bound to come to mind. And if not the mixing of the races, then that of social class is the crux. Cathy and Heathcliff are the predecessors of Noni and Kaye, as are, perhaps Estella and Pip. No matter. When the time comes for Dr, Michael Malone to conduct his first seminar in that great class room in the sky, his friends, Shakespeare, Emily Bronte, and Charles Dickens will welcome him as a kindred spirit. And if I am lucky enough to be there, I'll check my wings, settle a cloud against my back and be allowed to audit. That would undoubtedly be Heaven.