“The Little Yellow Dog” by Walter Mosley

 

I find it amazing what an effect someone’s race can have on a story. In “The Little Yellow Dog” the main character and solver of the mystery is a black man, which puts a completely different spin on the story. Easy Rawlins is a very likable character despite his rather shady past. Although he truly is the detective of this story it is never handled that way throughout the story. Easy is trying to untangle his life from this mess that he foolishly got himself into.

Because he is a black man Easy is forced to find his own way through this very dark and dangerous situation. Being from small town America some of the issues that Easy has with the police and authorities really shocked me. The brutality that happens on the streets and in the jailhouse was heart wrenching to me. I feel Mosley does a fantastic job at showing us what it is like to be a black man and what additional obstacles they must endure just to survive. I felt this was not only a very good mystery story but also a story about social justice

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