1,001 Novels: A Library of America
The Book of Numbers (1969)
by Robert Deane Pharr
Richmond, Virginia
Virginia: 7/17
I've got 10 titles to go for Virginia and I'm out of Audiobooks. I actually had to buy a copy of The Book of Numbers, a lost classic by African-American author Robert Deane Pharr. Like many of the lesser-known classics of post World War II African American literature, The Book of Numbers has some shocking language and behavior as judged by the standards of bourgeois white America. Pharr writes about a fictional city based on Richmond Virginia and about the denizens of "the block," the only African American urban area in Virginia. Once again, it's worth observing that in 1806 Virginia passed a law that required freed slaves to leave Virginia within 48 hours, and that undoubtably had an impact in reducing the native population of free African Americans until after the Civil War.
The main focus of The Book of Numbers is an African American racketeer named Dave and his mentor-sidekick Blueboy. They blow into town with a bankroll funded by the insurance money Dave received from the deaths of his parents and proceed to start Richmond's first numbers racket. I didn't know much about numbers before I started 1,001 Novels: A Library of America, but The Book of Numbers isn't the first or second book to use the numbers racket in its plot. Pharr is very detailed about the ins and outs of the racket- one memorable chapter involves Blueboy and Dave trying to locate a printer who will print the triplicate pads required to run a numbers game. This was also the first mention of how the numbers were generated- Dave would use the first three winners of horse races at various tracks around the country.
The language is very earth- tons of N-words and frank discussions of sexuality that still seem pretty racy. There's also a cool blaxploitation era movie that you can watch on youtube. The Book of Numbers was a real stand-out for me in this chapter of the 1,001 Novels project.
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