vigil chimé

There’s an old expression, forgive and forget. Were this book about that, it would have concluded in far far fewer pages than what you have here. This book is about the opposite – not forgiving, not forgetting, about the avenging of a despicable wrong that in turn spawns a vicious cycle of retribution.

This book is therefore a trilogy, for that’s how long it took Vigil Chimé to deftly and confidently weave together the wicked web of vengeance that is the plot of her debut novel. The setting is urban, the time contemporary, with a cast of characters drawn from ordinary folks who are going about their ordinary lives, but Chimé has infused their humanity with incredible insight that’s rendered their journeys extraordinary.

If you’re interested in a perspective of America as seen through the eyes of African immigrants and their first-generation American children, then this book is for you. If you’re interested in the literary device of a story-within-a-story-within-a-story construct, then this book is also for you. If you’re interested in prose that’s graphic, chuck full of details, vividly imaginative and cinematic to the extent you feel thrust into the center of the action, then this story is definitely for you. But above all, read this book because it’s good.