Walter Mosley: The Right Mistake (USA 2009)

From the Publisher:
Living in south central L.A., Socrates Fortlow is a sixty-year-old ex-convict still strong enough to kill men with his bare hands. Filled with profound guilt about his own crimes and disheartened by the chaos of the streets, Socrates calls together local people of all races and social stations and begins to conduct a Thinkers' Club, where all can discuss life's unanswerable questions. Infiltrated by undercover cops and threatened by strain from within, the Thinkers' Club doesn't have it easy. But simply by debating racial authenticity, street justice, and the possibility of mutual understanding, Socrates and his unlikely crew actually begin to make a difference. The Right Mistake is Walter Mosley at his most incisive. At once an affectionate and coruscating portrait of ghetto life, it abides the possibility of personal redemption and even, with great struggle, social change.

Walter Mosley: The Right Mistake. The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow. Basic Civitas Books, ISBN: 9780465018529 (September, 2009), 269 p., $14.00.

Walter Mosley: The Right Mistake (USA 2008)

From the Publisher:
Living in South Central L.A., Socrates Fortlow is a sixty-year-old ex-convict, still strong enough to kill men with his bare hands. Now freed after serving twenty-seven years in prison, he is filled with profound guilt about his own crimes and disheartened by the chaos of the streets. Along with his gambler friend Billy Psalms, Socrates calls together local people of all races from their different social stations-lawyers, gangsters, preachers, Buddhists, businessmen-to conduct meetings of a Thinkers' Club, where all can discuss the unanswerable questions in life. The street philosopher enjoins his friends to explore-even in the knowledge that there's nothing that they personally can do to change the ways of the world-what might be done anyway, what it would take to change themselves. Infiltrated by undercover cops, and threatened by strain from within, tensions rise as hot-blooded gangsters and respectable deacons fight over issues of personal and social responsibility. But simply by asking questions about racial authenticity, street justice, infidelity, poverty, and the possibility of mutual understanding, Socrates and his unlikely crew actually begin to make a difference. In turns outraged and affectionate, The Right Mistake offers a profoundly literary and ultimately redemptive exploration of the possibility of moral action in a violent and fallen world.

Walter Mosley: The Right Mistake. The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow. Perseus Publishing/Basic Civitas Books, ISBN: 9780465005253 (October, 2008), 269 p., $23.00.