Thread by @ClaireBerlinski

Is everyone excited for Chapter Four? It's called "Do Something." He nearly quits politics because he feels he can't change anything. He can't legislate because he alienates his colleagues.

The mayor is making his life miserable. (He's still a City Councillor.) The mayor has it out for him. City workers tell him they're afraid to talk to him for fear of losing their jobs.

His car begins to get ticket after ticket, even when it's legally parked. The mayor is having him followed--it's creeping him out. It's creeping his father out.

"Son, you need to be careful, you need to take extra precautions."
"What do you mean, Dad?"
"Before you get in your car, check the back seat."
"What?"

The police begin tapping his office phone.

He's stressed. He's gaining weight. He's having bad headaches, trouble sleeping.

Then he challenges the mayor for his office.

WAR.

Sharpe James calls him "a Republican who took money from the KKK." He's "collaborating with the Jews to take over Newark." He's "a faggot white boy."

This is hardest on his father.

But as always, there's a moral. "But in a sense, the major was teaching me lessons as valuable as some my dad had taught me. This was Politics 101. I wasn't running for president of my ... 7th grade class. This was Newark ....

"If I was going to come, I had better bring it."

But he feels helpless, especially when Elaine Sewell, president of the Garden Spires tenants association, asks for his help: drug dealers had attacked the Garden Spires security guards.

When he tells her he'll call the police and the mayor, she says she did that already.

"We elected you, Cory. If you can't help, then why did we elect you?"

He loses his shit. "A year's worth of stress and frustration rose up in my throat." He chews her out and slams down the phone. He storms out of City Hall. "All I wanted to do was go to my apartment,

close the door, and douse my anger with ice cream."

(There's something touching about this admission.)

But guess what stopped him?

Really, guess. He's a predictable writer. You should be able to figure out what happens next. If you don't, you're not paying enough attention to his narrative tics.

Yes, good work. "There, standing in front of Brick Towers, was Ms. Virginia Jones."

And what was her inspiring message this time?

"Cory, you should do .... something."

That, plus the Bible, plus a bit of meditation sorted him out.

"An idea formed, sharpened, and then crystallized in my mind."

He apologizes to Elaine. She hugs him. They cry and tell each other they love each other. "In Newark, the capacity to forgive is profound." Elaine "extended grace to me. She hugged me despite myself."

"She fully embraced not just my peaks but my valleys."

Elaine hadn't actually expected him to solve the problems at Garden Spires, just to listen.

But Cory has a plan. He's going to live in a tent in Garden Spires and pray and fast until Garden Spires is fixed.

He begins by calling a press conference, of course.

Some people liked seeing him and his staff in the tent: People began talking, kids came out to play. "We had brought with us a sense of security."

Others weren't so keen. Someone threw a used diaper at the tent from a high floor.

Media coverage and word-of-mouth bring more people to the tent.

"By the weekend, Garden Spires was full of activity," with live music, a DJ, and a constant cookout--"hundreds of hamburgers, hot dogs, sodas and juices." He hasn't eaten in a week.

He refuses to eat or leave the tent "until we had some assurances that the problems surrounding the building would be addressed."

After a week of fasting and prayer, he no longer wants to strangle the mayor. And finally, the mayor comes over to see this for himself. (TO BE CONTINUED)

CONTINUING ... "On my tenth day of fasting and prayer I felt light; I felt no negative emotions whatsoever. In fact, I felt love for him. [the mayor]. ... I praised and thanked him." They hug.

"It may sound strange, but I remember in that embrace smelling him. It was the closest he and I had ever been and I breathed the moment deeply."

(Yep. Sounds strange.)

The mayor promises to build a park, establish a police command post on the site, and spend more money on security.

The crowd erupts in cheers!

"We climbed a bucket lifter and were raised high into the air. To the applause of the crowd, we cut down the sneakers hanging from the overhead wire--a perceived symbol that drugs were being sold in the area."

(What's the difference between a "symbol" and a "perceived symbol?" Copy editors, where were you?)

Cory breaks his fast.

Garden Spires got a reprieve from the drug dealing.

Cory was the hero!

Except, as he writes exactly one paragraph later,

"Eventually, though, the police left and the drug problem returned, as did many other issues and challenges that afflicted the buildings. The major never built the park."

(Years later, though, when he becomes mayor, he "worked to get a park and preschool built." Did he succeed or just work at it? I'm not sure. Anyone know?)

So, basically, this was a diet.

But before breaking his fast, he gathers everyone for a final prayer.

It sounds as if it was a very stirring prayer, but I'm still stuck on the fact that it didn't achieve anything.

Still, this was a stronger chapter than the ones before it. (It could have used more dialogue and less mysticism.)

Despite this whole chapter, I have no idea what Garden Spires looks like. Well, onward. After the next chapter, we'll be halfway through.

I feel as if I'm losing you, but it's not my fault. It's the book.