What Are You?
"If I Survive You" is an eight story mosaic depicting a Jamaican family's struggles to establish their lives once they land in America. The brilliant first story, "In Flux," hits with a question the characters never completely shake: "What Are You?" Trelawny is in fifth grade in Miami now. The kids choose sides and demand to know what he is-- is he black? Is he Spanish? He is asked what language his mother speaks... it certainly has a funny accent. She tells him he is a little bit of this, a little bit of that-- but that is not the one word answer people want. His brother Delano tells him they are black in America, not black in Jamaica. The confusion only thickens as his mother warns him not to bring any "nappy-headed" girl around and for God's sake please do not bring home a white girl. The Jamaican kids do not consider him legit as he is not in tune with their culture or their homeland. Throughout his life the lack of an identity to bond with will muddle up his self-image.
The remaining seven stories of the family are told from different points of view. Trelawny and Delano, very different personality types, fight in their own way trying to succeed. They skirmish with each other and with their father in the effort to make a better life for themselves.
Along the way we get Hurricane Andrew, the recession, homelessness, racism from all sides, and the ordeal of a number of sketchy jobs. Trelawny is hired as a building manager where the expectation is to treat the elderly tenants callously, seeing what information he can gather to generate more evictions and more rent increases. Later he finds himself involved with a woman after answering her Craigslist ad-- she was asking to be given a black eye. Trelawny is a little uneasy about this... but, well, forty dollars is forty dollars.
This is Jonathan Escoffery's first book and is rock solid. The narrative flies along with a beautiful balance of humor, compassion and heartbreak-- landing the sense that these lives are real. A debut this strong promises great things for the future. Highly recommended.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
"If I Survive You" is an eight story mosaic depicting a Jamaican family's struggles to establish their lives once they land in America. The brilliant first story, "In Flux," hits with a question the characters never completely shake: "What Are You?" Trelawny is in fifth grade in Miami now. The kids choose sides and demand to know what he is-- is he black? Is he Spanish? He is asked what language his mother speaks... it certainly has a funny accent. She tells him he is a little bit of this, a little bit of that-- but that is not the one word answer people want. His brother Delano tells him they are black in America, not black in Jamaica. The confusion only thickens as his mother warns him not to bring any "nappy-headed" girl around and for God's sake please do not bring home a white girl. The Jamaican kids do not consider him legit as he is not in tune with their culture or their homeland. Throughout his life the lack of an identity to bond with will muddle up his self-image.
The remaining seven stories of the family are told from different points of view. Trelawny and Delano, very different personality types, fight in their own way trying to succeed. They skirmish with each other and with their father in the effort to make a better life for themselves.
Along the way we get Hurricane Andrew, the recession, homelessness, racism from all sides, and the ordeal of a number of sketchy jobs. Trelawny is hired as a building manager where the expectation is to treat the elderly tenants callously, seeing what information he can gather to generate more evictions and more rent increases. Later he finds himself involved with a woman after answering her Craigslist ad-- she was asking to be given a black eye. Trelawny is a little uneasy about this... but, well, forty dollars is forty dollars.
This is Jonathan Escoffery's first book and is rock solid. The narrative flies along with a beautiful balance of humor, compassion and heartbreak-- landing the sense that these lives are real. A debut this strong promises great things for the future. Highly recommended.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
