Heavy: An American Memoir, Hardcover

Contributor(s):

• Author: Kiese Laymon

*Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal and Kirkus Prize Finalist*

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.
 
Review citations

• Kirkus Reviews / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - pg. 83 - 07/01/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Exceptional Presentation - pg. 83 - 07/01/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Book Of Special Distinction - pg. 83 - 07/01/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Top 15 Book Of The Year - pg. 83 - 07/01/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Highly Recommended - pg. 83 - 07/01/2018
• Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - pg. 33 - 08/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview / Exceptional Presentation - pg. 33 - 08/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview / Book Of Special Distinction - pg. 33 - 08/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview / Top 15 Book Of The Year - pg. 33 - 08/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview / Highly Recommended - pg. 33 - 08/15/2018
• Library Journal / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - pg. 63 - 09/01/2018
• Library Journal / Exceptional Presentation - pg. 63 - 09/01/2018
• Library Journal / Book Of Special Distinction - pg. 63 - 09/01/2018
• Library Journal / Top 15 Book Of The Year - pg. 63 - 09/01/2018
• Library Journal / Highly Recommended - pg. 63 - 09/01/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - 08/27/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Exceptional Presentation - 08/27/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Book Of Special Distinction - 08/27/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Top 15 Book Of The Year - 08/27/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Highly Recommended - 08/27/2018
• Booklist / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - pg. 28 - 09/01/2018
• Booklist / Exceptional Presentation - pg. 28 - 09/01/2018
• Booklist / Book Of Special Distinction - pg. 28 - 09/01/2018
• Booklist / Top 15 Book Of The Year - pg. 28 - 09/01/2018
• Booklist / Highly Recommended - pg. 28 - 09/01/2018