2007-01-26 Long Con

Ice Berg Slim is a true master of the word. His dialogue is dazzling. His cast so real you can almost touch them. "Pimp" is the book to start with, but Trick Baby is just as good and stands alone as a brilliant example of American writing.
Trick Baby is a term used for the offspring of a black prostitute who has given birth to a baby who is half white. The baby of a white John (client of the prostitute) is considered a trick baby. Half black. Half white.
After his mother is gang raped and put into a secure mental hospital, White Folks (trick baby) falls into the company of Blue, a grifter con-man who teaches Folks the art of Con. How to hustle for money in downtown Chicago. Folks has an advantage as he looks like a peckerwood (white man) Blue and Folks play the con and earn lots of money on the grifter circuit.
They play to close to danger and the con catches up with them.
Quote from Trick Baby. Folks and Blue talk about religion.
Blue: "My conviction is that God never existed. I believe the Bible was written by the slickest bunch of peckerwood grifters that ever crapped between two sandals" .... Brilliant!
Read this book.