Live at Five

In this ascerbic novel of the TV, race and class, Haynes' African-American protagonist, Brandon Wilson, anchors the local news in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ratings are abysmal and a new producer has been sent to shake things up.Brandon, 38, middle-class, ambitious and plagued by hair that never does quite what he wants, knows that St. Paul may be the height of his career. Or it may be the end if Dexter Rayburn, the new producer, decides the station will benefit by his firing.Dexter is high-energy demonic. He gets in Brandon's face with jive talk, rap music and vulgar imagery. Brandon isn't "black" enough, he says. In the interests of ratings, he demands Brandon go live in the ghetto for a while, broadcast his show from there.Queasy but excited too - it just might work - Brandon agrees, although he's never spent a day in the inner city and regards its inhabitants as ignorant and baffling. The plan is exploitation in the hopes of ratings.Haynes introduces a varied and unsentimentalized cast. Chief among the ghetto inhabitants is Nita, young single mother of three, manager of the apartment building, store-clerk, night student. Beneath Nita's tough exterior is a tough interior - and some tired loneliness. She doesn't think much of the light-skinned, arrogant Brandon until a chance crisis breaks through both their shells, threatening Brandon's more traditional romance.Haynes keeps a lot of balls in the air, juggling tensions between privilege and poverty, integrity and ambition, sound bites and real lives. He writes with humor and vitality and maintains suspense about choices right to the last page.

This is another great one by David Haynes. Live At five, was funny, and serious at the same time. Nita was single parent who was trying to do right by her kids, Brad need to come up with the perfect story for the news at five, or risk losing his job. Their views on life want let you down.

I've read this book twice and enjoyed it both times. What I appreciate most about this book is the look at life in the middle of the spectrum. Nita is poor, but her children aren't starving, they aren't homeless, or neglected. Instead you get glimpses of how life is harder when you don't have much money: the car not starting is stressful, not having a credit card is shameful, Ben and Jerry's is a luxury, the lack of options and crunch for time. While Brandon is the focus of the book I really liked Nita a lot. And the viewer comments at the beginning of each chapter are a hoot. I enjoyed the characters in this book, how they interact with each other and how their expectations about each other are colored by their own prejudices. I enjoyed Live at Five and would recommend it.