“The first weapon I ever held was my mother’s hand.” Let Us Descend (Scribner 2023) is my first Jesmyn Ward novel, but it certainly won’t be my last. Ward’s writing is as lush and powerful as everyone says, and there is a cadence to the storytelling that echoes oral traditions centuries old. The novel isContinue reading “LET US DESCEND – Jesmyn Ward”
Tag Archives: the empire writes back
THE FRAUD – Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith’s White Teeth was barely in paperback when it showed up on a syllabus for one of my classes at UNC in 2002. Smith’s debut had a lasting impact, and, for over twenty years, I have read her novels as they were released. Unpopular opinion, but The Autograph Man (2002) is my favorite. Smith’sContinue reading “THE FRAUD – Zadie Smith”
GLORY – NoViolet Bulawayo
My seventh read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory (Viking 2022). Coming in at 400 pages, it’s considerably longer than the last Booker book I read and at my sweet spot for size. Bulawayo is also not new to the Booker Prize, her debut was shortlisted in 2013. Postcolonial literature isContinue reading “GLORY – NoViolet Bulawayo”
A Girl Named Tommi 