Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: October 16, 2018
Source: Print: Personal copy via Literati Book Club / Audio: Library
Summary:
In this powerful and provocative memoir, genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon explores what the weight of a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a black body, a black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse.
Kiese Laymon is a fearless writer. In his essays, personal stories combine with piercing intellect to reflect both on the state of American society and on his experiences with abuse, which conjure conflicted feelings of shame, joy, confusion and humiliation. Laymon invites us to consider the consequences of growing up in a nation wholly obsessed with progress yet wholly disinterested in the messy work of reckoning with where we’ve been.
In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to his trek to New York as a young college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, Laymon asks himself, his mother, his nation, and us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.
A personal narrative that illuminates national failures, Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable, an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family that begins with a confusing childhood—and continues through twenty-five years of haunting implosions and long reverberations.
My thoughts:
I recently joined a new online bookclub, Literati, after seeing so many of my bookstagram friends rave about it. The nice thing about this club is that each month you have the option to switch amongst the different book club leaders or lumaries as they are referred to. For my first month, I selected Jesmyn Ward’s club, who picks “stories that are full of life and transportive in nature that pack a powerful punch.”
Her first pick was Heavy by Kiese Laymon and I liked that not only is this a book I have not read, but it’s a book that is a little out of my comfort zone. Yes, I love reading memoirs, but in all honesty, I probably would not have picked this one on my own, yet I absolutely ended up loving it. From the lyrical writing to the intense, powerful dive he does into his relationships with his mother and grandmother, I know this is a book I will not be forgetting anytime soon. While I realize this is not a book for everyone, I do think those that read it will be as profoundly affected by it as I was. And I loved that I had a group of people, even though it was online, to discuss this one with…that is the appeal of tackling this books that are a little out of my wheelhouse.
I am so glad I have this book on my shelf now, though I did end up listening to it and loved that Kiese himself narrated it. I loved listening to him tell this story – his own – because I don’t think anyone else could have done it the justice it deserved. I know this is a book I will be revisiting at some point and I will definitely be checking out Kiese’s other books…he is such a fantastic writer.
