Du Bois’ famous essay “The Talented Tenth” and fueled by Ladee Hubbard’s marvelously original imagination, The Talented Ribkins is a big-hearted debut novel about race, class, politics, and the unique gifts that, while they may cause some problems from time to time, bind a family together. His brother is gone, but he has an unexpected sidekick: his brother’s daughter, Eloise, who has a special superpower of her own. Out of frustration Johnny and his brother used their talents to stage a series of burglaries, each more daring than the last.įast forward a couple decades and Johnny’s in a race against the clock to dig up loot he’s stashed all over Florida. But when their, eh, superpowers proved insufficient, the group fell apart. In the old days, the Ribkins family tried to apply their gifts to the civil rights effort, calling themselves the Justice Committee. It’s a fun world in which to be, freckled with moments of clarity and wisdom that make you ache. And Johnny himself can make precise maps of any space you name, whether he’s been there or not. Part buddy road trip, part family drama, part social commentary and part magical realism, The Talented Ribkins is in sure hands with Ladee Hubbard, who weaves these parts into a very enjoyable whole. His brother could scale perfectly flat walls. For example, Johnny’s father could see colors no one else could see.
What may or may not be useful to Johnny as he flees is that he comes from an African American family that has been gifted with superpowers that are a bit, well, odd. At seventy-two, Johnny Ribkins shouldn’t have such problems: he’s got one week to come up with the money he stole from his mobster boss or it’s curtains.
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