Crabcakes: A Memoir

Crabcakes, James Alan McPherson's first book since his Pulitzer Prize-winning short-story collection Elbow Room, is a meditation on many topics. While McPherson figures prominently, the text is laced with recollections of other people, places, and times. Thus the story at the heart of the book--McPherson's decision to sell a Baltimore house he has owned for nearly 20 years, evicting his elderly tenant--is interwoven with reminiscences of a waiter on the Great Northern Railway, Baltimore street scenes, and a bittersweet set of instructions about what to do when stopped by police. Although it's almost impossible to characterize, Crabcakes is richly rewarding.