Fortunate Son: A Novel
by Walter Mosley
Published by Little, Brown and Company/Time Warner Books (April 2006 Release)
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Reviewed by Kim Hill
Walter Mosley's novel begins in a Los Angeles hospital when a newly widowed white surgeon, Minas Nolan, meets an African-American single mother, Branywn Beerman. Minas has a young son, Eric, born a few weeks before, who grows to be a healthy example of a child with everything. Branywan's son, Tommy, is born premature with a life of struggle ahead....
An unlikely family is created by the four, along with a Vietnamese nanny Ahn. Eric and Tommy, who are so different from one another, develop a lasting bond. After the sudden death of his mother Branywn when he is six, Tommy is removed from Minas Nolan's home and sent into a different world.
Taken in by a father he has only met once, Tommy has a difficult life as a child different from the rest, facing homelessness, gangs, poverty and prison but still looking at life through accepting and loving eyes.
Eric grows up as a child of privilege but still missing his "brother." He goes through life having everything but feeling alienated from the world and unable to feel anything inside of himself.
After 10 years, the "brothers" are reunited and begin to face a series of struggles together. Can Tommy help fill the void in Eric? Can Eric give Tommy the family he has missed? Can they team together to face a much worse evil and possibly save each others lives?
Armchair Interviews says: Walter Mosley tells a wonderful story of redemption, courage and love that spans race and economic differences. This is the type of story that makes you wonder by the end of the book, just which is the "fortunate son?"