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P.G. County by Connie Briscoe Rating: •• (Mildly Recommended)
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Appearances Connie Briscoe’s latest novel, P.G. County, takes readers into the lives of an ensemble of characters for whom appearances make all the difference in the world. The real location is Prince Georges County, Maryland, adjacent to Washington, D.C., and known locally as P.G. County. Briscoe uses all the demographics of the real place to portray characters who fit the locale. Wealthy African Americans are building big houses in this county, but still have to travel for miles to find shopping venues that match their income. Issues of who is black and who is white permeate the struggles many characters face. Briscoe presents some characters who are comfortable with themselves as they are, and others who desire to project an image of being better than others. There’s a soap opera quality of unfaithfulness and struggles with marital relationships throughout the book, overdone more often than not. Subtlety would have made this a better book. Here’s an excerpt from page 92, the end of Chapter 11, a conversation between Kenyatta and his mother, Pearl: “ … ‘you never like it when I date outside our race. You always wanted me to take advantage of their schools their recreational facilities, but’ - ‘Excuse me,’ she interrupted. ‘If you think of those things as their things, or as white things, then you have a problem, young man. We have just as much right to them as anybody. I pay my taxes just like they do.’ ‘You know what I mean, Ma. You think it’s OK to mix with them up to a point, even to be friends with them. But when it comes to getting involved romantically, it’s like, hey, stay away. Not my son. I don’t get that.’ ‘Blacks and whites don’t mix romantically without trouble.’ Kenyatta scoffed impatiently. ‘I give up.’ She shook a finger at him. ‘Listen, I’ going to tell you exactly how I feel when I think you’re making a mistake.’ ‘Don’t I know it. We’ve always been up front with each other, Ma, and I value that. But you don’t have to worry about me all the time.’ ‘You’re my son. I’m always going to worry about you. And I’m not’ - He held up a hand. ‘Look, Ma, can we finish this discussion another time? I need to get cleaned up now.’ ‘Fine. I’ll go fix you some breakfast before you go.’ She reached for the clothes in the bed. ‘I’ll take these and throw them in the washing machine.’ Kenyatta grabbed the clothes before she could get to them. ‘I’ll do it.’ ‘But I’m going down. I might as well take them.’ ‘Ma, I said I’ll do it.’ Something in his voice told Pearl not to push him. ‘Fine. I’ll see you in the kitchen in a bit.’ She shut his door and walked to the stairs. A lot of this was her fault. She sent him to majority-white schools and praised him when he made friends with white children. She told herself that he was learning how to deal with white people and that would help him get ahead in life. But this white girlfriend stuff was going too far. When he came home in the evening after dealing with white folks all day at the office, he needed a nice black woman to greet him, someone who understood what it meant to be black in this world.” Readers looking for insight into what it means to be black in this world will find some images on the pages of P.G. County that contribute toward understanding. Readers will also find stereotyped characters and weak exposition of what motivates those characters to behave in the ways they do. As fictional social commentary, P.G. County takes us inside one part of the United States where African Americans are the majority of the population, and we can watch the collision of their pasts, the present and their aspirations. Steve Hopkins, October 9, 2002
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