Perhaps Not the Rehoboth You Know

I picked up Alexs Pate's novel, "West of Rehoboth", because its title attracted me, and because I saw it was set in West Rehoboth, an African American neighborhood just west of downtown Rehoboth Beach DE.

It is a relatively short novel that I read in two sessions, Sunday and Monday. It was touch and go as to whether I would pick it up again on Monday, because I wasn't enjoying it. Today, looking at 14 customer reviews on Amazon.com, I see I was not the only one who thought that the book started out slowly, but improved considerably.

Not that the book is perfect, but largely because of the development of the character of Uncle Rufus (name a little to close to Uncle Remus?), I would recommend it highly.

It is a coming of age story. Twelve year old, chubby African American Edward Massey is a bookworm and would-be detective. His mother, every summer, takes him from their North Philly home to stay with relatives on the Delaware Coast. Each year, he notes a strange man, Uncle Rufus, appearing and disappearing from a shack behind his aunt's house. No one talks to him and no one talks about him.

Rufus is a drunk, he is homeless, he is mentally unbalanced. But who is he really? After shooing Edward away a number of times, circumstances develop where Rufus decides to "educate" the boy and tell him his story.

No one has had all the bad luck that Rufus has had. He is in love with Edward's aunt, always has been and it appears always will be. He is a former crab fisher, who has a hard time controlling his temper and keeping a job, but he has ambition. He is not a big guy; whenever he gets in a scrape, he comes out the loser. Finally, it all gets to him, he challenges one of the West Rehoboth bullies, he is knocked back, but pulls out a knife and kills his adversary. He had had too much to drink.

He had to leave town and the woman of his dreams. He joins the Merchant Marine, and travels the world for five years. He saves his money (while all his fellows are chasing wine and woman), only to have it stolen by a man he thought his friend. He hikes back to Rehoboth, but must stay out of sight; he is still a wanted man.

Time passes; he mind deteriorates.

A sad, sad story. But for Edward, living a sheltered and protected life, it is eye opening. An important part of leaving his childhood behind and becoming a man.

Is Edward really Alexs Pate? I would think so. Was there an Uncle Rufus?