"Great Black Hope" opens with 20-something David Smith being arrested in a swanky Hamptons nightclub. He’s busted for possession of cocaine, cuffed, booked and humiliated - and in denial.
Smith is queer, young, gifted and Black. He grew up surrounded by Black kids like him, kids with professional mothers, ever-present fathers, lessons in lacrosse and piano. He was a kid who had everything going for him and the compulsion to self destruct.
Smith goes through court-ordered drug treatment, and a lot of soul searching. But after his court date, the judge says "I hope you’ve learned your lesson." And Smith thinks, what lesson?
In this novel, author Rob Franklin struggles with issues like addiction, race, and class. And all of it is written beautifully.
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