Book Review: How We Fight For Our Lives
โ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ. ๐๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ข๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐งโ
Itโs a little past midnight, but I read this memoir in one day and I need to write this review RIGHT NOW!
SUMMARY: Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir. Jones tells the story of a young, black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Through a series of vignettes that chart a course across the American landscape, Jones draws readers into his boyhood and adolescenceโinto tumultuous relationships with his family, into passing flings with lovers, friends, and strangers. Each piece builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one anotherโand to one anotherโas we fight to become ourselves.
An award-winning poet, Jones has developed a style thatโs as beautiful as it is powerfulโa voice thatโs by turns a river, a blues, and a nightscape set ablaze. How We Fight for Our Lives is a one-of-a-kind memoir and a book that cements Saeed Jones as an essential writer for our time.
Briefly, the memoir focuses on Saeedโs life from 1998-2011, from the age of 12 to roughly 25 (which is blowing my mind as Iโm already 29 myself). It centers on his extremely personal experiences of growing up gay and black in mostly small towns under the care of a single mother. The middle of the book is mostly about Saeedโs life and sexual experiences as he transitions from high school to college, but the beginning and end bookend beautifully with his relationship with his mother (and really sheโs a constant thread throughout).
I appreciate Saeedโs candor and vulnerability in telling his story. There are moments both shocking and raw (sexual and violent). I am neither gay nor black, so I couldnโt personally relate to everything, but he told his story with such beauty, heart, and humanity that it was easy to empathize with all of it. Also I am not typically a fan of explicit sex in books, and word of warning here it gets graphic at times, but I am so glad overall that I read this book.
Saeed gets to the heart of his experiences and the writing is both poetic and real in a way that is captivating. I simply couldnโt put it down! This book is very much about his life, but it is also a wonderful tribute to his mother and mothers everywhere
Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Reading Vicariously 