Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - If I Survive You

Title: If I Survive You
Author: Jonathan Escoffery
Genre: Short Stories
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: September 6, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Episodic • Meandering • Relevant

📖 S Y N O P S I S

In the 1970s, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami as political violence consumes their native Kingston. But America, as the couple and their two children learn, is far from the promised land. Excluded from society as Black immigrants, the family pushes on first through Hurricane Andrew and later the 2008 recession, living in a house so cursed that the pet fish launches itself out of its own tank rather than stay. But even as things fall apart, the family remains motivated.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I chose to read If I Survive You when I needed a book to fit the prompt '2023 Booker longlist nominee' for a yearlong reading challenge I am participating in. I went in completely blind, having not even read the synopsis. that this is a collection of interconnected stories.

This started off incredibly strong, but I found the change in voice and disjointed timeline an odd choice. Not knowing this was a collection of interconnected stories ahead of time really impacted my enjoyment. Around the midway points my attention wavered as there was just so much going on. It seemed like the narrative was all over the place, rather than reading like a unified collection. In the first chapter, I really got a good introduction to Trelawny, yet his character development isn't fully flushed out because the following stories shift to other family members. Additionally, there's a lot of repetition throughout the stories, which made the reading experience redundant.

Touching on themes of race and identity, I believe If I Survive You to be an authentic depiction of the immigrant experience. I don't necessarily think I am the intended audience, but my failure to be fully invested in the narrative from start to finish meant I struggled with the flow. The writing itself was impressive. It's quite possible I'd have enjoyed this more if I'd been aware it was a collection of stories ahead of time.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Booker devotees

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"It occurs to you that people like you—people who burn themselves up in pursuit of survival—rarely survive anyone or anything."

Content Warnings

nadia's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I always knew I liked the sound of "interconnected short stories" and this collection proved me correct!

Normally with short stories, I'm left wanting, but I thought this collection was a really great blend of a regular novel and a short story collection, and, by the end of If I Survive You, I found myself satisfied with the range of perspectives Escoffery chose to share with us — I didn't think I would be! I just love the way interconnected stories can provide so many additional layers to the chapters before and after, especially where the stories individually stand strong on their own.

There were a couple of cases, especially in one story, where I was a little confused as to what was meant to have happened, but those were minor frustrations only.

If you love reading about themes of identity, race and racism, familial relationships, especially fatherhood or brotherhood, and classism then this is definitely a collection for you.

This was Escoffery's debut and I'm looking forward to reading whatever he publishes next!

Content Warnings

ukponge's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

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