in a cafeteria on the South Side of Chicago. There a character, known as Mitch, whom we can conclude is the author finds himself, a white man in a predominately black area, studying the lifestyles of many of the black men he encounters. The title of the book is derived from a group of people that Mitch meets in a cafeteria and befriends. He often refers to them as “the regulars” because as a routine they always meet in the cafeteria to discuss the days that they have had. Mitch later finds out they’ve been gathering there for over 10 years. As Mitch observes, the apparent “leader” of the group is a man named Slim, who is a black mechanic that works down in a back alley garage in one of the ghetto areas of Chicago. However, Mitch notes that he is one of the best mechanics he has ever known, which serves to try, right in the beginning of the book to debunk the stereotypes that have been attached to the black working class. Mitch does interact with many of the people he meets in the cafeteria, however, much of his observations are done from the “outside,” a pseudo-objective, observant point of view. He is constantly observing how these men interact with each other, how they act on their own and more importantly, what kind of values and morals they uphold and believe in.The book is filled with many different stories involving the men Mitch meets in the Valois Cafe, which is what the cafeteria was known as, as well as many commentative asides, which Mitch uses to speak directly to the reader. He often times tries to surmise what has occurred in the particular excerpt that he has just told. There has been some criticism given to this due to the fact that often times, the character “Mitch” has restated what the reader will surely have concluded after reading the particular excerpt told from him his point of view; whereby losing the flow of the story and possibly the interest of the reader....
