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    The Tempest Tales
    The Tempest Tales
    The Tempest Tales
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Tempest Tales

    Written by Walter Mosley

    Narrated by Ty Jones

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The author of 30 critically acclaimed works, Walter Mosley has had his novels translated into 23 languages. The Tempest Tales, an Essence Book Club Recommended Read, features Tempest Landry, a black man shot down by an over-eager cop. But that's not the end of the line for Tempest. Unwilling to accept St. Peter's judgment that he spend eternity in Hell, Tempest is sent back to Harlem- guardian angel in tow-to make things right.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateDec 5, 2008
    ISBN9781436187268
    The Tempest Tales
    Author

    Walter Mosley

    Walter Mosley is the author of over twenty critically acclaimed books and his work has been translated into twenty-one languages. His popular mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins began with Devil in a Blue Dress in 1990, which was later made into a film starring Denzel Washington. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he now lives in New York.

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    Reviews for The Tempest Tales

    4/5

    65 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Short but deep. Mosley explores the grey times when people down the pecking area of socio-economic means can’t afford to, or need to improvise, right action. And who or how are we to judge?
    • 5/5
      A very well-written book, both in its storyline and its lines of Socratic dialogue between Tempest Moseley and his Angel guardian, Joshua. You see, Tempest is shot by some white police officers in Harlem, around about 2008, and he goes up to be judged at the Pearly Gates. Lo and behold, his life of pilfering money from the charity box to give the money to his friends and family, or stealing an insurance card to help a terribly beaten woman get life-saving medical care are seen as grievous sins by Peter. And it is Peter's judgment that Tempest must go below to the realms of hell.Tempest is not too happy about that decision and challenges. He challenges it to the point that he is thrown out of the judgment waiting line and sent back to earth with Joshua Angel to be persuaded to accept his fate. If he does not accept his fate, all of heaven and hell will be upended and cease to exist as they have done so for millennia.And so begins a set of modern-day Socratic dialogues. Instead of walking through Athens, Angel and Tempest sit on park benches, or have coffee at Starbucks, or meet in an apartment and discuss what it is to be poor and black in Harlem. How a low-paying job can pay havoc with trying to get ahead, not just staying ahead of the landlord. How living in fear of others is a day-to-day life experience of black men. How unfair and unjust Tempest's life was, and how he committed his sins for the betterment of others, not just because he had a mean streak or needed to act out his violent rages.The dialogue is raw, the events are timely, and the questions need some pondering. There is absolute good and evil as presented here, but sin and non-sin are questioned, as are some of the individuals who did truly horrible things and did not wind up in hell. And it begs the question: how does the lack of privilege or access to food or schools create an underclass of human beings who are otherwise shunned? And why is there now an us" and "them" mentality and how can it change?
    • 3/5
      Tempest Landry is a young man trying to make the best of what life in Harlem has handed him. One day, in a case of mistaken identity, he is shot and killed. When he arrives at the Pearly Gates he is held accountable for his acts, turned away and told he is on his way to Hell. Tempest disagrees with the judgment – he’s not a bad guy. After all didn’t he buy groceries for his aunt when she was ill? Okay, he stole money from the church to do it. And didn’t he stand up in court to help send a man to jail? Okay, the man was innocent but only of that crime. He was a known rapist and murderer and deserved to be jailed. St. Peter cannot be swayed yet Tempest stands his ground and refuses to make his was to Hell. This has never happened before and the precedent could rock the very foundations of Heaven as we know it (if it has foundations to be rocked). Offering St. Peter a compromise Tempest is sent back to his old life (albeit in a different body with a different name) with a guardian angel so that Tempest can come to realize that no error was made in the Heavenly accounting. As the guardian angel attempts to make Tempest see the error of his thinking, Tempest introduces the angel to the grey areas of being a human with free will. Not only that, but Satan is a little miffed that he has lost a soul so he pays a little visit to Harlem as well.

      This book was humorous, entertaining and yet thought provoking as well. It raises so many questions about the nature of good and evil, free will, racism and the difference between bending the rules and actual sin. Kudos to Mr. Mosley, as through Tempest, he finds an original and creative solution to a situation that could bring Heaven to its knees.
    • 3/5
      Oddly fascinating. Very bad theology, but an interesting premise. Good one played on Bezal Bob.
    • 4/5
      A fun, quick read!
    • 3/5
      The narrative style of this book reminded me a bit of Langston Hughes' Simple stories.