GIL SCOTT-HERON – The Vulture. World Publishing, hardcover, 1970. Belmont Books, paperback, 1971. Payback Press, paperback, 1996. Grove Press, paperback, 2013.

   Minor book about minor drug-dealers in Harlem, late 60’s.

   The book is in four parts, with a murder, a suicide, drug deals and a couple blocks in Harlem to bind them. Each of the four parts are narrated in the first person by a different member of the scene, describing loosely connected happenings. Each of the narratives touches the other. But only tangentially. And though we have four different perspectives, and each has a very different voice, still the reality remains the same. There are no Rashomon like problems of reliability in narration, each reality consistent with the drug-jive whole.

   So you’re left with a harmonious picture of Harlem disharmony, late sixties, among the drug dealing set. Credibly realistic slice of love and life and death in happening times.