Next up in our T Book Club series is Toni Morrison’s “Jazz” (1992), which opens with a brief account of a love triangle that has just played out in 1920s Harlem. Joe Trace, a cosmetics salesman, was having an affair with Dorcas, an 18-year-old. When it went sour, he shot and killed her, leaving him; his wife, Violet; and others in their orbit to learn to live with their grief. From there, the narrator takes us back — to the beginnings of the intrigue, to Joe and Violet’s early years in New York and their previous lives in Virginia — moving from character to character and producing a lyrical portrait of the “City,” as it is called throughout; of Black life and of the mystery of love.
Start reading today, and join the poet Morgan Parker and Kate Guadagnino, a T contributor, for a virtual conversation about the novel on Oct. 27.
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