Cake

March 17, 2008
D tells it like it is in this brutal sequel to Got
, deploying a second-person point of view to roughly riff on the life of a desperate man trying to stay alive and get control of his life. The nameless narrator is still haunted by the first woman he killed. In Atlanta, the ex-Brooklynite enrolls in college; hooks up with Jennifer, a student and smalltime drug dealer; hangs with cousin Duronté and wants to be “normal, even though you know in your heart that you’ll never be normal again.” D unflinchingly depicts the narrator’s longing “to control all the variables, where you can corner them and make them talk.” He sends his cousin away after a power struggle in Atlanta and returns to Brooklyn for a showdown with the men who have him on the run. The narrator finds a surprising if unwelcome closure and faces some ugly truths in D’s gritty street noir.