I randomly picked up this short novel, Ernest Gaines, The Tragedy of Brady Sims, in the library. It is set near Bayonne, Louisiana. Spare prose; ugly reality of African-American life and race relations. It could be 1950, it could be 1990. Small population, very insular. Violence and stress are part of everyone’s life. The prison, Angola, looms large. As a picture I appreciated it; as a novel I found it lacking. Most of the novel uses the device of the chat in the barbershop, recounting the events. Then for two short closing chapters Gaines changes the point of view. To me, these did not work at all.