This novel, The Paragon Hotel, by Lyndsay Faye brings to mind a poem by Emily Dickinson:
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody -too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know.
Alice James, 25, the central character in the novel, acquires the sobriquet of "Nobody" because as a child when asked "Who's there?" she answers: "Nobody." Her mother jokingly starts referring to her as "Nobody" and surprisingly, Alice likes it. She likes being inconspicuous, always lurking about unnoticed, listening and observing.
This trait, however, does not go unnoticed. A "friend" of her mother realizes the advantage of being a Nobody and recruits her into his Mafia family in the Harlem of the 1920s. Being part Italian she moves about the neighborhood unnoticed, but ever vigilant and observant. and provides Mr. Salvatrici information about his enemy, the Boss of Bosses.
Such doings, of course, lead to trouble and Nobody, nursing a couple of bullet wounds, flees Harlem and heads cross country to Portland, Oregon, because that is as far as she can go in this country and she can get there by train. And, it is in Portland that she ends up as the only white in the all-black Paragon Hotel.
And thus begins an entertaining, and somewhat surprising, view of Harlem and Portland in the 20s.
In the course of following Nobody's captivating tale, the reader also becomes acquainted with interesting bits of American history.
For example, in 1896 the state of New York, in an effort to reduce the consumption of alcohol, passed Raines Law which among other provisions, prevented the sale of liquor on Sundays except in hotels. The result was that any building with a few rooms on the second story became a "Raines Hotel." It was not long before the ingenious owners realized they could use the upstairs rooms for prostitution.
And then there is Oregon, established to be an all-white utopia. In 1844, prior to statehood, the territory passed a provision that all blacks had to leave the territory, and those refusing to leave were to be flogged every six months until they left. Once it became a state, it was the only one among the fifty to explicitly deny blacks the right to live and work there.
In 1870, Oregon was only one of six states that refused to ratify the 15th Amendment which granted people of color of the right to vote. They eventually ratified it in 1959!
The Ku Kluz Klan plays a significant role in The Paragon Hotel, and in the 1920s Oregon boasted the largest KKK organization west of the Mississippi
One might wonder why a Paragon Hotel even existed in Portland, given the prevailing fear of blacks. The answer is the railroads. The staff on most transcontinental railroads was black, and they needed a place to stay before returning on an eastbound train. Some clever entrepreneur recognized the need and founded an all-black hotel.
Readers will find many reasons to like Nobody and the supporting cast of interesting characters in both Harlem and Portland, but the one ingratiating aspect of Lindsay Faye's novel is her mastery of 1920s slang. Nobody, the narrator describes her mother this way: "In any case, she emigrated to New York in 1893 with nothing but a scalawag husband. After a week, she misplaced, him and she wasn't too sore. Everything was jake."
On the other hand, she can be quite "literary," as when she writes: " The skies are enormous, flung open and sprawling. A bucket of spilled cerulean."
I have avoided revealing much of the plot because I hope you will read The Paragon Hotel, experience the story as it unfolds, and appreciate what it says about our current situation.
In the course of following Nobody's captivating tale, the reader also becomes acquainted with interesting bits of American history.
For example, in 1896 the state of New York, in an effort to reduce the consumption of alcohol, passed Raines Law which among other provisions, prevented the sale of liquor on Sundays except in hotels. The result was that any building with a few rooms on the second story became a "Raines Hotel." It was not long before the ingenious owners realized they could use the upstairs rooms for prostitution.
And then there is Oregon, established to be an all-white utopia. In 1844, prior to statehood, the territory passed a provision that all blacks had to leave the territory, and those refusing to leave were to be flogged every six months until they left. Once it became a state, it was the only one among the fifty to explicitly deny blacks the right to live and work there.
In 1870, Oregon was only one of six states that refused to ratify the 15th Amendment which granted people of color of the right to vote. They eventually ratified it in 1959!
The Ku Kluz Klan plays a significant role in The Paragon Hotel, and in the 1920s Oregon boasted the largest KKK organization west of the Mississippi
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| KKK In Portland in 1920s |
One might wonder why a Paragon Hotel even existed in Portland, given the prevailing fear of blacks. The answer is the railroads. The staff on most transcontinental railroads was black, and they needed a place to stay before returning on an eastbound train. Some clever entrepreneur recognized the need and founded an all-black hotel.
Readers will find many reasons to like Nobody and the supporting cast of interesting characters in both Harlem and Portland, but the one ingratiating aspect of Lindsay Faye's novel is her mastery of 1920s slang. Nobody, the narrator describes her mother this way: "In any case, she emigrated to New York in 1893 with nothing but a scalawag husband. After a week, she misplaced, him and she wasn't too sore. Everything was jake."
On the other hand, she can be quite "literary," as when she writes: " The skies are enormous, flung open and sprawling. A bucket of spilled cerulean."
I have avoided revealing much of the plot because I hope you will read The Paragon Hotel, experience the story as it unfolds, and appreciate what it says about our current situation.
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