#Non-fiction Heavy
- Author: Keise Laymon (1974)
- Title: Heavy
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Published: 2018
- Trivia: Winner Andrew Carnegie Medal of Excellence non-fiction 2019
- List of Challenges 2020
- Monthly reading plan
- My list of books about black lives
Read: 28.09.2020
Genre: memoir
Rating: A+++++++++++++++
- Heavy is about Keisa Laymon’s childhood in Mississippi and is
- written in the form of a letter to his single mother.
- She is an academic, who loved him but also beat him ruthlessly.
- She feared what white America would do to him if he wasn’t perfect.
- This was a staggering introspection.
- Strong point: Laymon transports the reader to a place
- where we see the unraveling of the said and unsaid
- between mother and son.
- What a talented writer….
- Kiesa Laymon, professor of English and Creative writing at
- U. of Mississippi, writes a memoir we can easily accept.
- Who does not want to read a book in the form of a letter to his mother?
- Their relationship was difficult…but love, love oozes from the pages.
- Best read via AUDIO book (6 hrs 18 min) b/c you hear
- the intensity in Laymon’s voice,
- This almost ‘hip/hop-rap’ delivery and it will mesmerize you.
- Life in USA is difficult if you are black and especially in Alabama.
- Heart-wrenching at times…but oh,
- the perseverance of his mother to make her
- boy the best he can be gave me goosebumps.
- Yes, she used abusive methods (…beat him with a belt)
- …but you have to see…her heart was in the right place. I
- It is not easy being an African American single mother in Alabama
- ….and trying to keep her son from falling off the tracks.
Last thoughts:
- Tip: this book is best as an AUDIO book.
- You hear the urgency in Laymon’s narration…
- ….with A ‘rap’ tempo.
- I am still a bit numb….but
- I’m so glad I found this book!
- #MustRead
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NancyElin.blog 
This sounds so powerful! I’ve read so many glowing reviews of this one. I really want to read it. Thanks for sharing your take on it!!
What a talented writer….this is a staggering introspection. Kiesa Laymon, professor of English and Creative writing at U. of Mississippi, writes a memoir we can easily accept. Who does not want to read a book in the form of a letter to his mother? Their relationship was difficult…but love, love oozes from the pages. Best read via AUDIO book (6 hrs 18 min) b/c you hear the intensity in Laymon’s voice, his almost ‘hip/hop-rap’ delivery and it will mesmerize you.
It just sounds so good. I haven’t made the leap to audiobooks, just can’t get into them, but that’s great to know that it’s such a special one in that medium!
This was one of the more powerful & personal essays in The Fire This Time. I’m also keen to read Jericho Brown’s poetry collection.
Brona, this was an amazing story of a mother – son relationship.
Life in USA is difficult if you are black and especially in Alabama.
Heart-wrenching at times…but oh, the perseverance of his mother to make her
boy the best he can be gave me goosebumps. Yes, she used abusive methods (…beat him with a belt)…but you have to see…her heart was in the right place. It is not easy being an African American single mother in Alabama….and trying to keep her son from falling off the tracks.