This was a good book. The writing was different. There were no compound sentences. The characters were delightful. Claude was the typical person. Still a hero, though.
Ok, enough of that- I just can't write like that very easily, which probably should make me appreciate his writing much more. So, yeah, Claude was a normal kid who grew up on the South side of Chicago. His parents left him, he witnessed a multi-day riot, and he fell in love with a girl who eventually ended up living with him like a sister. So, there were lots of things going on in his life.
Then, there was this last part of the book that raised the most discussion in our group. What did it mean? Was it too contrived? I am putting it out there- I liked it. But I'm the minority of the group.