I'm intrigued! I had heard a few booktubers talk about how much they disliked this book so I wrote it off as a "no thanks." But now hearing your review I may need to add back to my TBR!
Eric, you make a very good point about the book’s missing link-no story on Trelawny’s mother. It would’ve rounded this family portrait. But I loved the book’s story structure, and how Escoffery paces and weaves the various pieces into a narrative whole. This is quite an accomplishment by a debut author; he set himself a high formalist challenge, a family saga told in a Cubist manner. I was struck too by how the tone of the book evolves, from an initial on-the-nose complaint to stories and situations that could be in crime fiction. The Florida setting, the wilder and scuzzier characters, the under-estimated underdog, the sharp dialogue, all of these reminded me of Elmore Leonard, but updated, and Jamaica-nized. A fascinating entry on the Booker long list, a ballsy selection by the jury.
Have it. Haven’t read it yet, but from what I gather most of the difficulties with this book is that people want the stories to read more as a novel then short stories. It may cause it to be its own worst enemy trying to be interconnected stories. I need to get going on it
It must be so tiring hearing that question over and over again. This one is also on reserve at the library! I prefer interconnected short stories to independent ones I think. Look forward to this one.
I'm grateful my Library District has "The hate U give" by Angie Thomas (yours and Obama's recommendation from thebanningclub. I'm enjoying and I wonder "If I survive you" falls into a racism category. I think it's very important to learn how we can contribute to control our own judgments from books and not from the news. Thank you and please take care❤
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, there really is a lot to this book, I'm still processing it after reading it a few days ago, and all the more thankful I live where I live (not the US), and have been able to have a diverse group of friends, from different cultural backgrounds since I was young. It sickens me that anyone would treated my little grandson the way the little boy was treated in the book. Yet we know it happens all the time. Cultural differences should be celebrated and skin colour should not be a way to 'other' people. WTF are the 'teachers' doing in 'schools'? WTF are the parents doing?
Currently reading this and enjoying it so far. The audiobook has some really long chapters which does make it a little tricky to follow at times. Pleased to be reading it though 😊 Great to hear your thoughts Eric. 📚
I enjoy interconnected stories and like the themes in this. Appreciate your thoughts as some people have not talked highly of this. I might check this out eventually. 😊💙
I DNFed this book. In the beginning, I thought I would like it, since I’m an immigrant too and despite being white, I constantly have to deal with prejudice. However, I lost interest in it, and couldn’t even finish the first chapter. I felt like the story was not going anywhere, just the same situation described over and over again in slightly different settings as he moved forward in life and got to know new communities. I tried to pick up the story by starting new chapters, but it just didn’t hold my interest anymore. I really enjoyed your review though.
I urge you to give it another try. After that first story, the book shifts tone, energy, and direction. The characters undergo huge changes of fortune, things grow very dangerous, and even outrageously funny and macabre. The prose sparks with energy. The book contains real surprises. I was quite impressed once I finished it. But I can’t stress enough that it’s a book you need to hang in there with…it rewards. (And it’s really not very long, after all.)
I bought a copy last week but won’t get around to it for a while unfortunately. Sounds very interesting though. My copy is the UK hardback like yours saying published in 2023 but preceded by a paperback in 2022 that Goodreads lists as published early September last year - so is it actually eligible for the Booker?
I gad such an interesting time of this I found the stories of Trelawny so evocative and compelling but as we expanded and returned to the other characters and then returned to him I fekt less anchored in the book.
That’s understandable. I think this style of writing has its pitfalls but for the most part I found it really effective and I liked that it “kept me on my toes” as it were. 😄
I read it about a year ago. I'm Jamaican so I knew the characters intimately. I found the second person narration jarring at first. I had to learn to ignore it to enjoy the story. It did not bother me that it this a series of short stories. The stories are so closely connected to each other that it felt like a cohesive novel. I did not perceive the exploration of the "what are you" question so much as Trelawny's (pronounced Tree-Lawn-Knee, not Tray-Lawn-knee) bewilderment at being asked to assign himself to a racial category (although it is clear that he found that annoying). To my mind, the novel is more concerned about exploring the fact that the "one drop rule" is a peculiarly American phenomenon, and how internalised racism propels mixed race people to deny their African ancestry. Ultimately, Trelawny's sense that he occupies a no man's land has more to do with his family dynamics and his inability to cope with the financial climate he lives in, rather than anything to do with ethnicity. I found Trelawny's story at once painful and surprisingly funny. It's a worthwhile read.
An aspect of this book that I found interesting was the father/son dynamic, not just Trelawny and Delano with Topper, but also Cukie and Ox. I've read so many mother- daughter stories this year I'm actually tired of the dynamic. This book had a difficult to read but fresh perspective. I enjoyed it, and it was the most original book I've read in a long time.
This one really did not work for me. I liked the first story and appreciate the way you framed it very much. But after that my interest in the characters deteriorated so that I had to force myself to finish the book, and I found the experience of reading it ultimately very unsatisfying. I wish it had lived up to the promise of its opening.
Interesting. The question ‘but where are you really from’ didn’t just come from white people …, it came from black Caribbean people, black Americans, Hispanic people, so it’s about difference, belonging, clans & othering more than just white racism
I'm intrigued! I had heard a few booktubers talk about how much they disliked this book so I wrote it off as a "no thanks." But now hearing your review I may need to add back to my TBR!
Eric, you make a very good point about the book’s missing link-no story on Trelawny’s mother. It would’ve rounded this family portrait. But I loved the book’s story structure, and how Escoffery paces and weaves the various pieces into a narrative whole. This is quite an accomplishment by a debut author; he set himself a high formalist challenge, a family saga told in a Cubist manner. I was struck too by how the tone of the book evolves, from an initial on-the-nose complaint to stories and situations that could be in crime fiction. The Florida setting, the wilder and scuzzier characters, the under-estimated underdog, the sharp dialogue, all of these reminded me of Elmore Leonard, but updated, and Jamaica-nized. A fascinating entry on the Booker long list, a ballsy selection by the jury.
Have it. Haven’t read it yet, but from what I gather most of the difficulties with this book is that people want the stories to read more as a novel then short stories. It may cause it to be its own worst enemy trying to be interconnected stories. I need to get going on it
It must be so tiring hearing that question over and over again.
This one is also on reserve at the library! I prefer interconnected short stories to independent ones I think. Look forward to this one.
Love that passion, Eric. Feels like this book has completely surprised you.
Jackie Kay has written a great poem answering the perennial question - Where are you from? No really, Where are you really from?
Yes! Jackie Kay has done excellent writing on this subject.
I'm grateful my Library District has "The hate U give" by Angie Thomas (yours and Obama's recommendation from thebanningclub. I'm enjoying and I wonder "If I survive you" falls into a racism category. I think it's very important to learn how we can contribute to control our own judgments from books and not from the news. Thank you and please take care❤
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, there really is a lot to this book, I'm still processing it after reading it a few days ago, and all the more thankful I live where I live (not the US), and have been able to have a diverse group of friends, from different cultural backgrounds since I was young.
It sickens me that anyone would treated my little grandson the way the little boy was treated in the book. Yet we know it happens all the time. Cultural differences should be celebrated and skin colour should not be a way to 'other' people. WTF are the 'teachers' doing in 'schools'? WTF are the parents doing?
I hadn't heard of this, thank you for sharing! It sounds fantastic
Currently reading this and enjoying it so far. The audiobook has some really long chapters which does make it a little tricky to follow at times. Pleased to be reading it though 😊
Great to hear your thoughts Eric. 📚
Ah great, hope you continue to enjoy it and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
I enjoy interconnected stories and like the themes in this. Appreciate your thoughts as some people have not talked highly of this. I might check this out eventually. 😊💙
Very interested in this title now Eric, thank you ❤️
I DNFed this book. In the beginning, I thought I would like it, since I’m an immigrant too and despite being white, I constantly have to deal with prejudice. However, I lost interest in it, and couldn’t even finish the first chapter. I felt like the story was not going anywhere, just the same situation described over and over again in slightly different settings as he moved forward in life and got to know new communities. I tried to pick up the story by starting new chapters, but it just didn’t hold my interest anymore. I really enjoyed your review though.
I urge you to give it another try. After that first story, the book shifts tone, energy, and direction. The characters undergo huge changes of fortune, things grow very dangerous, and even outrageously funny and macabre. The prose sparks with energy. The book contains real surprises. I was quite impressed once I finished it. But I can’t stress enough that it’s a book you need to hang in there with…it rewards. (And it’s really not very long, after all.)
Thank you for a fantastic review. I am collecting my library reservation for the book tomorrow 😊
Thanks, hope you enjoy it.
I bought a copy last week but won’t get around to it for a while unfortunately. Sounds very interesting though. My copy is the UK hardback like yours saying published in 2023 but preceded by a paperback in 2022 that Goodreads lists as published early September last year - so is it actually eligible for the Booker?
On my tbr shelf so I’ll read it next.
Thanks
Great, hope you enjoy it.
Reading it now. I like it So far, but I'm not really connecting with the characters.
I gad such an interesting time of this I found the stories of Trelawny so evocative and compelling but as we expanded and returned to the other characters and then returned to him I fekt less anchored in the book.
That’s understandable. I think this style of writing has its pitfalls but for the most part I found it really effective and I liked that it “kept me on my toes” as it were. 😄
That intro 👏🏽….
I read it about a year ago. I'm Jamaican so I knew the characters intimately. I found the second person narration jarring at first. I had to learn to ignore it to enjoy the story.
It did not bother me that it this a series of short stories. The stories are so closely connected to each other that it felt like a cohesive novel.
I did not perceive the exploration of the "what are you" question so much as Trelawny's (pronounced Tree-Lawn-Knee, not Tray-Lawn-knee) bewilderment at being asked to assign himself to a racial category (although it is clear that he found that annoying). To my mind, the novel is more concerned about exploring the fact that the "one drop rule" is a peculiarly American phenomenon, and how internalised racism propels mixed race people to deny their African ancestry. Ultimately, Trelawny's sense that he occupies a no man's land has more to do with his family dynamics and his inability to cope with the financial climate he lives in, rather than anything to do with ethnicity.
I found Trelawny's story at once painful and surprisingly funny. It's a worthwhile read.
An aspect of this book that I found interesting was the father/son dynamic, not just Trelawny and Delano with Topper, but also Cukie and Ox. I've read so many mother- daughter stories this year I'm actually tired of the dynamic. This book had a difficult to read but fresh perspective. I enjoyed it, and it was the most original book I've read in a long time.
This one really did not work for me. I liked the first story and appreciate the way you framed it very much. But after that my interest in the characters deteriorated so that I had to force myself to finish the book, and I found the experience of reading it ultimately very unsatisfying. I wish it had lived up to the promise of its opening.
Interesting. The question ‘but where are you really from’ didn’t just come from white people …, it came from black Caribbean people, black Americans, Hispanic people, so it’s about difference, belonging, clans & othering more than just white racism