Wendell Pierce

I picked up this book because I heard Wendell Pierce speak earlier this fall, and he was terrific. To be honest, Pierce is a better speaker than writer, and so I don’t know that I would especially recommend this book. However, Pierce has an interesting story, and I did get something out of the book.

Pierce is an actor, best known for his role in “the Wire’. He is from New Orleans and studied at Julliard. The book pays tribute to New Orleans and New Orleans culture, and more specifically to Pierce’s parents. His parents worked hard to raise Pierce and his brothers in an African-American middle class community (Pontchartrain Park). Pierce gives the background to show how hard it was for African Americans to reach for the American dream, and how, even though it was segregated, Pontchartrain Park gave his family a sense of stability and pride. Their home was destroyed by Katrina (later rebuilt by Pierce at great expense; so that his parents could stay in their beloved home.)

Pierce also talks about the importance of art to help people through difficult times. After Katrina he was involved in a production of [Waiting for Godot] in the 9th Ward. He also talks a lot about the role of music in the New Orleans community. Wynston and Branford Marsalis were at Julliard with Pierce and play a large part in the book.

One thing that I found super cool was Pierce’s description of learning to act. He talked about how jazz helped him learn to play Shakespeare. Hew was listening to a musician, Arthur Blythe, who did a long solo. “IT was free jazz, and he took a long detour from the trail, clambering up and down chords like a fleet footed mountaineer. Then he emerged back in the song, right in time with his band, which had never left the path. Suddenly, I realized that for the entire ten-minute solo, I had never stopped humming the melody, in time. “ Pierce realized that Blythe was honoring the structure of the song in his solo.. “Freedom within form.” Pierce was able to apply this principle to Shakespeare, and master iambic pentameter.

So even though this book wasn’t great, it was a worthwhile read for me, I learned more about the African American community in New Orleans, and enjoyed reading about the power of art. Plus, Pierce’s relationship with his mother was really sweet!… (mere)

Pierce's memoir is a testimony to the importance of family, art, and New Orleans to the African American experience. The book is at it's best when he is describing how these themes play out in his acting career, such as his description of the vibrant group of African American artists and intellectuals centered around Wynton Marsalis that he was part of when studying in NYC at Julliard, his involvement in an outdoor production of Waiting for Godot in two storm-ravaged neighborhoods in post-Katrina New Orleans, and backstories related to his celebrated TV work The Wire and Treme. But much of the book is mired in platitudes and preciousness. Part of the problem may be that, while he has much to say about all he owes his parents and family, he is remarkably guarded about his private life. It is remarkable to a memoir in which family is a central theme, and never learn whether the author is married, or indeed ever went on a date. It's not that what he has to say is untrue or unimportant. It's just said more powerfully elsewhere.… (mere)