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.