This book had such an impact on me that I can barely think of the words that I want to use to describe it. I think it needs to be read by middle school and high school children and their parents so that they can have an open dialogue in their homes about race. Even though the book is set mainly in 1946, it still resonates in today's racial problems in this country.

Here is the synopsis: Inspired by true events, The Vain Conversation reflects on the 1946 lynching of two black couples in Georgia from the perspectives of three characters--Bertrand Johnson, one of the victims; Noland Jacks, a presumed perpetrator; and Lonnie Henson, a witness to the murders as a ten-year-old boy. Lonnie's inexplicable feelings of culpability drive him in a search for meaning that takes him around the world, and ultimately back to Georgia, where he must confront Jacks and his own demons, with the hopes that doing so will free him from the grip of the past.

The perspectives of each of the three main characters tells the same story but it is different based on their belief system. Betrand had just come back from WWII where he helped liberate a concentration camp and fought to keep America free. He felt that once the war was over he would be respected as a black man in American. Jacks, a farm owner who employed many black workers, was a victim of the belief system of Georgia at this time. And Lonnie, a 10 year old boy, who felt that Betrand was his friend and mentor, who never realized that hatred like this really existed, was set on a path of wandering the world looking for what would make his life right again because of what he witnessed.

The cruelty and the hatred in this book are difficult to read but need to be read and understood - not just in the perspective of 1946 and also for the understanding of racial inequality that exists in 2017. This is a must read book! ( )