In The Portable Promised Land, Touré pens an eclectic mix of short stories and essays all tied to an imaginative place called Soul City. The award-winning author captures readers' attention a catchy tale titled The Steviewondermobile about a "nigga-rich" man named Huggy Bear and his custom Caddy that only plays the musical library of Stevie Wonder.
Touré follows through with other catchy-titled stories like, A Hot Time at the Church of Kentucky Fried Souls and the Spectacular Final Sunday Sermon of the Right Revren Daddy Love and The Sambomorphisis.
This talented writer is a master with words, playing and experimenting with language to create colorful people and places as avenues for his social commentaries. Touré's savvy delivery of fresh ideas didn't always translate well into my sheltered suburban dialect. I read for pleasure, so I must admit I missed many of the important points the author was trying to make. This book is best appreciated by those more culturally hip than I am.
The Portable Promised Land is impossible to categorize. Just as soon as you attempt classification, Touré changes tactics so every reader will react to his work; a respectable quality in a writer.
There's no rhyme of reason to the presentation of Touré's thoughts. At times the words are loud or soft; the pieces deep or shallow. It all depends on what the author is thinking at that very moment. This style is quite similar to that of Rick Moody's The Black Veil. In fact, Moody is mentioned in the "Shout-Outs" section of this book.
The Portable Promised Land is a generous sample of Touré's talents. He's a gifted writer with a fresh voice that should appeal to a respectable literary audience. I admit to not always understand what he was preaching, but I'll always be first in line to hear what he says in the future.
