Burn Down the Ground

Inthis powerful, affecting, and unflinching memoir, a daughter looks back on herunconventional childhood with deaf parents in rural Texas while trying toreconcile it to her present life-one in which her father is serving atwenty-year sentence in a maximum-security prison.
 


Asa child, Kambri Crews wished that she'd been born deaf so that she, too, couldfully belong to the tight-knit Deaf community that embraced her parents. Herbeautiful mother was a saint who would swiftly correct anyone's notion thatdeaf equaled dumb. Her handsome father, on the other hand, was more likely tobe found hanging out with the sinners. Strong, gregarious, and hardworking, hemanaged to turn a wild plot of land into a family homestead complete withrunning water and electricity. To Kambri, he was Daniel Boone, Frank LloydWright, Ben Franklin, and Elvis Presley all rolled into one. 
 


Butif Kambri's dad was Superman, then the hearing world was his kryptonite. Theisolation that accompanied his deafness unlocked a fierce temper-a rage that ateenage Kambri witnessed when he attacked her mother, and that culminatedfourteen years later in his conviction for another violent crime. 
 


Witha smart mix of brutal honesty and blunt humor, Kambri Crews explores hercomplicated bond with her father-which begins with adoration, moves to fear,and finally arrives at understanding-as she tries to forge a new connectionbetween them while he lives behind bars. Burn Down the Ground is abrilliant portrait of living in two worlds-one hearing, the other deaf; oneunder the laid-back Texas sun, the other within the energetic pulse of New YorkCity; one mired in violence, the other rife with possibility-and heralds thearrival of a captivating new voice.

KambriCrews owns her own PR and production company specializing in comedy. Arenowned storyteller and public speaker, she has appeared at the Moth, UprightCitizen's Brigade, and SXSW Interactive. She splits her time between Astoria,Queens, and Cochecton, New York, with her husband, comedian Christian Finnegan.

"Surprisingly funny and uplifting, this touching account of a deaf family living on the edge is raw and candid. Crews writes beautifully, honestly, and with deep affection about her conflicted relationship with her father and her love for her family, in good times and bad."-Paula Froelich, author of the New York Times bestseller Mercury in Retrograde

"Kambri Crews is an exceptional writer. Her voice is fresh, fearless, and singular-with an ability to craft a story you will never be able to forget, but also won't be able to stop talking about."-Mandy Stadtmiller, columnist, New York Post

"A riveting American tale, delivered with clear eyes and great love. In the face of incredible hardship, Crews endures."-Jane Borden, author of I Totally Meant to Do That

"Addictive and heartbreaking, Kambri's memoir demonstrates both true grit and a sense of humor that exists only among the very sharpest of those who have survived extraordinary childhoods."-Julie Klausner, author of I Don't Care About Your Band

"Imagine living in a tin shed, growing up as the hearing child of deaf parents, seeing your father attack your mother, or sneaking gum into prison. Those are just half of the challenges Kambri Crews faced growing up. Burn Down the Ground is a story of triumph in the face of poverty, alcoholism, violence, and, worst of all, heartbreakingly powerful love."-Annabelle Gurwitch, co-author of You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up

"In my eyes, Kambri Crews is a heroine. It takes a person-a survivor-with a miraculous magnitude of strength to be able to see the human side of her father in spite of what he did."-Julie Rems-Smario, executive director, DeafHope

"Kambri Crews is a survivor, and a fiercely witty one. Her memories of growing up with two volatile deaf parents in the backwoods of Texas will inspire, delight, horrify, and amaze you. The matter-of-fact way in which she describes traumatic and painful events puts me in mind of Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle, Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, and Rick Bragg's All Over but the Shoutin'. Read this unforgettable account of an American family's tragic explosion and the tough-as-nails young woman who walked out of the ashes to tell her tale."-Sara Benincasa, author of Agorafabulous