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kevin_shepherd's review
4.0
“Consider the fallen. Tamir was twelve. John Crawford was shopping. Tamir was twelve. Jordan Davis liked rap. Treyvon Martin was in a gated community. Renisha McBride needed help. Tamir was twelve. The sheer randomness of their unnatural ends seems a boast on the measure of death’s wingspan, that it can reach out and touch us at will. But somehow this relentless accumulation of tragedy diminishes our anger and fear instead of compounding it. Why?”
Greyboy is neither biography nor memoir. Author Cole Brown refers to it as his “scrapbook.” All the stories are true but not all of the stories happened to Brown. This is more dramatization than documentary, more reenactment than recollection. It has a prose that is awkward until you discover its cadence and then it flows almost effortlessly.
At first I couldn’t relate to Brown’s vignettes. Of course I couldn’t. He writes about what he calls “tokenism,” about being the only one of something. I was never a mixed race kid caught between two realities; a kid too black for whiteness and too white for blackness. I read this the only way I could, in third person. An outsider looking in.
But then came chapter seven, Parents Understand, where Brown writes about being raised at the business end of a belt. I could relate to that. And then in chapter ten, The Reveal, his response to Trump’s election in 2016 was my own. It was exactly as I would have written it if I could write this forcefully and powerfully.
Cole Brown writes about coming of age in troubled times. He writes about being different, about being judged, and about being unwelcome. The technique of his writing verges on poetry which works until it doesn’t, but when it does it is breathtaking.
Greyboy is neither biography nor memoir. Author Cole Brown refers to it as his “scrapbook.” All the stories are true but not all of the stories happened to Brown. This is more dramatization than documentary, more reenactment than recollection. It has a prose that is awkward until you discover its cadence and then it flows almost effortlessly.
At first I couldn’t relate to Brown’s vignettes. Of course I couldn’t. He writes about what he calls “tokenism,” about being the only one of something. I was never a mixed race kid caught between two realities; a kid too black for whiteness and too white for blackness. I read this the only way I could, in third person. An outsider looking in.
But then came chapter seven, Parents Understand, where Brown writes about being raised at the business end of a belt. I could relate to that. And then in chapter ten, The Reveal, his response to Trump’s election in 2016 was my own. It was exactly as I would have written it if I could write this forcefully and powerfully.
Cole Brown writes about coming of age in troubled times. He writes about being different, about being judged, and about being unwelcome. The technique of his writing verges on poetry which works until it doesn’t, but when it does it is breathtaking.
labtracks's review
4.0
I enjoyed this. A unique perspective into what is probably a somewhat common situation which I had not thought through until picking up this book. I enjoy books that give a perspective I hadn't considered and make me thing, sometime uncomfortably think about what I may have believed and taken for granted which turn out to be not what I thought.
Any book that makes me think like this is a win in my eyes.
Any book that makes me think like this is a win in my eyes.
oldmateforty's review
4.0
A raw and powerful insight into the life of black male living in America. The storytelling will take you a journey of self reflection, questioning your positioning. Would recommend!
jilliebeanreads's review
4.0
“Greyboy” is part memoir, part journalistic storytelling and part essay collection. The debut author, Cole Brown, comes from a life a privilege. Despite being raised in a mostly white world, he is often ostracized by his friends and teachers for his choices and the color of his skin. Sometimes Cole is too white, sometimes he’s not black enough. Sometimes his friends see his skin color, sometimes they don’t. We witness how he gets stuck in the unknowing. Is he comfortable where he is, straddling both worlds, both colors? Or, should he choose differently? This is the question he grapples with, among others.
The essay topics are what you might expect from a young person: insecurities; revelations of racism; “the talk”; young love; alcohol and drugs; friendship; death; political injustice; police brutality; and family life. As a reader, I found that Cole’s most impressive essays were his takes on relationships, especially whether to choose for love or skin color. I appreciate his vulnerability, his approachable, narrative prose; and his intellect. One of his more powerful essays are of about his “reveal” moments. Those times when he absolutely feels his “otherness,” when reality cannot be unseen. In an early essay, we learn a good lesson from Cole’s father that was taught to his by his mother: “Black people in America don’t get the luxury of making mistakes, so be careful.”
Because “Greyboy” was written over a number of years—starting while Cole was still a teen—I found the level of writing and some of his stories to be disjointed and inconsistent. It’s for this reason that I rate this book four stars instead of five. That said, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading Cole Brown’s future works. I think he’s on his way to becoming one of the gifted storytellers from our next generation.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Skyhorse Publishing and Cole Brown for a gifted electronic copy of “Greyboy” in exchange for my honest review.
The essay topics are what you might expect from a young person: insecurities; revelations of racism; “the talk”; young love; alcohol and drugs; friendship; death; political injustice; police brutality; and family life. As a reader, I found that Cole’s most impressive essays were his takes on relationships, especially whether to choose for love or skin color. I appreciate his vulnerability, his approachable, narrative prose; and his intellect. One of his more powerful essays are of about his “reveal” moments. Those times when he absolutely feels his “otherness,” when reality cannot be unseen. In an early essay, we learn a good lesson from Cole’s father that was taught to his by his mother: “Black people in America don’t get the luxury of making mistakes, so be careful.”
Because “Greyboy” was written over a number of years—starting while Cole was still a teen—I found the level of writing and some of his stories to be disjointed and inconsistent. It’s for this reason that I rate this book four stars instead of five. That said, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading Cole Brown’s future works. I think he’s on his way to becoming one of the gifted storytellers from our next generation.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Skyhorse Publishing and Cole Brown for a gifted electronic copy of “Greyboy” in exchange for my honest review.
trudy4088d's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
aseel_reads's review
5.0
This was thoroughly enjoyable to read. Extremely well written and the specific topics were well picked. I actually found myself relating a lot to the token experience, growing up as one of the only hijabis at school, so it was nice to see myself represented
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