Reed's Storytelling Style
Ishmael Reed has unique writing style in Mumbo Jumbo . It is unlike any other book I've read. The most notable characteristic of his style is that everything seems to be unorthodox. They perspective in which the story is told differs from most books, the formatting is atypical, two of the chapters are labeled the same, there are no quotes when characters are speaking, etc. At first, I was constantly confused with everything going on, but after a while my brain came to accept the changes. So why does Reed include all of these odd details? One of the most odd ways Reed tells the story, is through the telling of the detective story to discover the text. Reed uses evidence that makes no sense, like when Black Herman dreamed the location of the book. Typical detective stories follow clear evidence and is easy to follow for a common person. The most unordinary thing about the detective story is that it has no conclusion. Nearly all traditional detective stori...