Jimmy D., Sidewinder, and Me

The year is 1948 and this tale is set in the south of the United States. Dumas Monk is fifteen, in prison and awaiting sentencing. In a last ditch attempt to call on the judge's mercy Dumas' layer, Mr. Harmon, has instructed him to write down his version of the events, giving a full explanation of how things came out as they did. These 25 short letters make up the text of this book. Dumas begins at the place where he has spent most of his short life - at Vicksburg Children's Home. Dumas is by far the oldest child in the Home and has been passed over for adoption many times. Because of this he has developed the opinion that he looks stupid and that nobody would ever want him. Despite being down on himself Dumas has high spirits and this leads to the first major misunderstanding of his life. Mr. Broemel, the manager of the Home, walks in on a knife-throwing contest just as Dumas is heaving his weapon at a target just above the manager's head. Broemel believes that Dumas has attacked him, and so the boy finds himself suddenly fostered to the Rhodus family. It is while in the Rhoduses care that Dumas gets his first taste of gambling and that is where his trouble really begins. This novel has the message that if you are willing to try hard enough, and practice hard enough, you are likely to become successful at just about anything you put your hand to. Dumas is a good gambler but only because he really works at it. You could say his whole life comes to revolve around the art of hustling people. If some other pastime had caught his eye, and if he had met other influential people, Dumas could have become a very respectable person. Will Judge Francis see things this way? As a reader I certainly did. Some parents may be concerned about the apparent glorification of gambling. There are passages throughout the book that deny that gambling is morally OK, but I must admit that these seemed rather token to me. Of course the real condemnation is the final crisis that Dumas finds himself embroiled in. It takes an intelligent reader to work this out and because of that I would not give this book to younger or less mature readers. This is one for the advanced thinker. The book is also fairly long for a teenage fiction novel and this also disposes the work to the advanced thinker. I do not mean to imply that this is an overly philosophical book. Salassi has included lots of action, some humor, some truly memorable characters, and the book is fun to read. The letter-writing format gives one a good view of Dumas' character, and I challenge you not to fall under his spell and end up liking him a lot.

This is an epistolary novel. Dumas is in jail waiting to be sentenced for manslaughter. His lawyer tells the 15 year old that he might be able to avoid prison if he can make the judge understand why he was involved in a gunfight at a poker table. The tale of this refugee from a Mississippi orphanage is wonderfully writ, with the yellowed eye of a poolroom habitue.