Sonny's Blues (Story collection)

“It’s terrible sometimes, inside.”

Sonny plays the piano to keep the demons at bay. Sometimes the things that save us also look like they are destroying us.

“He was hit with a real cup of trembling.”

The older brother finally hears Sonny's music at the very end. He realizes that suffering sounds different when it belongs to someone you love.

“They were encircling my brother's life.”

Harlem feels like a physical weight on these characters. It is a trap made of brick and mortar that they just keep hitting.

“I was scared for him.”

Safe lives and dangerous lives often come from the same childhood bedroom. One brother teaches algebra while the other chases a fix.