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Digital Audiobook
The End of a Primitive by Chester Himes

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The End of a Primitive

Narrator
Ron Butler
Publisher
Tantor Media, Inc
Publish Date
24 February 2026
Run Time
7 hours 6 minutes
Format
Audiobook
$13.95

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What to expect

Two lives spiral into a fatal pas de deux during a weekend of sex, alcohol, and violence—from the acclaimed author of the Harlem Detectives series



Jesse Robinson and Kriss Cummings once shared a passionate weekend in Chicago, but it's been years since they've seen each other. Jesse, a black writer, refuses to pen the inspirational novel his agent wants, and sits in his Harlem tenement as his career plummets accordingly. Kriss, a white divorcée, has found moderate success at her office job, but is disillusioned with life. Often sleeping with black men, she's pilloried for "solving the Negro Problem in bed." Each of them lonely and embittered by the racial tensions of McCarthy-era America, they reunite for a whiskey-soaked weekend in 1952, spiraling into a violent, malicious pas de deux that is fated to end in destruction.



Contains mature themes.

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Details

Author
Chester Himes
Narrator
Ron Butler
Duration
7 hours 6 minutes
Release Date
24 February 2026
ISBN
9798331949006
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Tantor Media, Inc
Genre
Fiction: general and literary, Thriller / suspense fiction, Crime and mystery fiction

Synopsis

Two lives spiral into a fatal pas de deux during a weekend of sex, alcohol, and violence—from the acclaimed author of the Harlem Detectives seriesJesse Robinson and Kriss Cummings once shared a passionate weekend in Chicago, but it's been years since they've seen each other. Jesse, a black writer, refuses to pen the inspirational novel his agent wants, and sits in his Harlem tenement as his career plummets accordingly. Kriss, a white divorcée, has found moderate success at her office job, but is disillusioned with life. Often sleeping with black men, she's pilloried for "solving the Negro Problem in bed." Each of them lonely and embittered by the racial tensions of McCarthy-era America, they reunite for a whiskey-soaked weekend in 1952, spiraling into a violent, malicious pas de deux that is fated to end in destruction.Contains mature themes.

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