Heavy
An American Memoir
by Kiese Laymon
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Pub Date Oct 16 2018 | Archive Date Oct 12 2021
Description
*WINNER of the Andrew Carnegie Medal and FINALIST for the Kirkus Prize *
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.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781501125652 |
| PRICE | $27.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 256 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Emma M, Reviewer
Wow. This book punched me in the gut right away and kept it up until I finished. Laymon is a brutal writer. This is my kind of jam.
Carolyn L, Librarian
Raw and moving. I am not even sure what to say. Highly recommend. The level of vulnerability involved in writing this memoir is pretty stunning.
Diane P, Educator
Kiese Layton can write the hell out of a day. I loved listening to his grandma when she was imparting her words of wisdom on Kiese. I admire the honest of this memoir and how he sent the book to his mother before it was published. I read her letter to Kiese on his website and found that interesting also. He speaks to so many readers who wake up at night afraid they're becoming that parent. Damn, this is the perfect memoir.
Natalie D, Librarian
Devastating memoir of a young man and the abuse a black body takes in America. Kiese Laymon’s voice gets in your head and stays with you.
Kasa C, Reviewer
What ever choices or challenges you may be forced to make in life, they are NOTHING compared to what it means to exist as a black man in today's America. The implementation of bodycams spawning outrage while watching the evening news, the helplessness at the tragedy felt at a watching, nightly, as lives are changed forever by impetuousness and unwarranted fear. This is Kiese's own story as he narrates to his mother. His writing is raw, but his accomplishments many, and he along with Roxanne Gay constitute the voice of America.
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