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Reviews
Never Far from Home: My Journey from Brooklyn to Hip Hop, Microsoft, and the Law by Bruce Jackson
kimberlyf's review
5.0
some real, hard hitting, moving moments and stories in this memoir that give you a first hand look at the social injustice in america. jackson’s story put me through such a range of emotions. i will be recommending this to everyone
booklovertamisha's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
kingofthehillxl's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this memoir. It was a surprise for sure! I went into this mildly interested in based on the description and the they very little information provided about Bruce Jackson. What really pulled me in here was the writing and perspective! Jackson’s ability to put you right there next to and in his head as he passes through he tremulous upbringing in Brooklyn and the east Manhattan really grabbed me. For readers who enjoyed Will, Finding Me, and Becoming.
The prologue in particular immediately gets you situated into Bruce’s current feelings about the path he’s taken toward prosperity. It paints a picture of a man who has done what he’s supposed to do; he’s pulled himself up by his bootstraps and gotten pretty high in the process. None of that saves him from the racial profiling by police that any minority would know all too well. The feeling of reading the prologue will definitely sit with me for a long time. Jackson immediately blew past my expectations and let me know that this was going give a critical look at circumstance.
The novel then backs all the way up to his early youth setting up the general circumstances that Bruce is born into. Moving naturally into the setting of Bruce’s life being young in New York at such a pivotal time in the history of the area. He describes the exact moment when he loses his innocence so well that you’re right next to him as he ripping and running through the streets dodging all the pitfalls that are capturing his peers. These obstacles are missing him so narrowly that it truly turns the novel into a testament to amount of chance involved in surviving at that time and even now to an extent. Missing these obstacles are often the unspoken prerequisites to any “bootstraps” that could ever be afforded.
The “bootstraps” in question really come into play as Bruce is pulled out of his comfort zone and thrusted into an academic environment that is challenging in more ways than most would expect. As someone who went to a PWI in a major that was not well integrated, even now, computer science, I related to this part of the book as much as the first part. Jackson writes about a compelling hunger for community that is, at every turn, at odds with the goals that are put before him to continue to blaze a trail into predominantly white and inviting spaces. At one point, Bruce even decides that the best path forward in his life is to take a job opportunity at a firm where he’s been quite publicly and loudly micro-aggressed.
While I can see a dark sense of humor in how blatantly and deftly some of the racism Bruce faces gets thrown at him, at other times Jackson is able to use those moments to paint an overarching picture of the odds and counterintuitive nature of the climate he had to enter into was. I don’t know if I would have been able to make the hard decisions the Bruce ends up making time and time again in order to carve out a future for himself.
The next section of the book focuses on a very surprising stint that Bruce has into entertainment law. While entertaining and very ripe for comment I ended feeling this was the weakest section of the book in some ways. We go through Bruce’s life so quickly here that is hard at times to be as immersed in his psyche as we find ourselves at other points of the book. This is the section where a normal reader may find themselves more caught up in the frequent name dropping and this is where it gets closer to run of the mill memoir. It just so happens that this is the least relatable section, but Jackson still find a way to make it very enjoyable to read.
Although, the book end up finishing very strong! The last section of the book goes through Bruce’s life at Microsoft and Jackson, once again, gets us deep into the psyche of a man at odds with his surroundings and surviving and thriving despite it. Bruce makes extremely tough and consequential decisions here, and the writing puts you right there wondering what you would decide before taking you on the journey of Bruce’s decisions. I particularly enjoyed the commentary on generational fatherhood trauma, and Jackson’s writing keeps you on your toes by not giving the critique away until the very end. Often taking the surprising and rare taken opportunity to be critical of his own pride and alerting you to how his trauma shaped his decisions without him even realizing it at the time.
What a wonderful, refreshing and surprising read! This is sure to be a standout for the rest of the year. Jackson paints an grueling tale with an ultimately critical yet optimistic finale.
The prologue in particular immediately gets you situated into Bruce’s current feelings about the path he’s taken toward prosperity. It paints a picture of a man who has done what he’s supposed to do; he’s pulled himself up by his bootstraps and gotten pretty high in the process. None of that saves him from the racial profiling by police that any minority would know all too well. The feeling of reading the prologue will definitely sit with me for a long time. Jackson immediately blew past my expectations and let me know that this was going give a critical look at circumstance.
The novel then backs all the way up to his early youth setting up the general circumstances that Bruce is born into. Moving naturally into the setting of Bruce’s life being young in New York at such a pivotal time in the history of the area. He describes the exact moment when he loses his innocence so well that you’re right next to him as he ripping and running through the streets dodging all the pitfalls that are capturing his peers. These obstacles are missing him so narrowly that it truly turns the novel into a testament to amount of chance involved in surviving at that time and even now to an extent. Missing these obstacles are often the unspoken prerequisites to any “bootstraps” that could ever be afforded.
The “bootstraps” in question really come into play as Bruce is pulled out of his comfort zone and thrusted into an academic environment that is challenging in more ways than most would expect. As someone who went to a PWI in a major that was not well integrated, even now, computer science, I related to this part of the book as much as the first part. Jackson writes about a compelling hunger for community that is, at every turn, at odds with the goals that are put before him to continue to blaze a trail into predominantly white and inviting spaces. At one point, Bruce even decides that the best path forward in his life is to take a job opportunity at a firm where he’s been quite publicly and loudly micro-aggressed.
While I can see a dark sense of humor in how blatantly and deftly some of the racism Bruce faces gets thrown at him, at other times Jackson is able to use those moments to paint an overarching picture of the odds and counterintuitive nature of the climate he had to enter into was. I don’t know if I would have been able to make the hard decisions the Bruce ends up making time and time again in order to carve out a future for himself.
The next section of the book focuses on a very surprising stint that Bruce has into entertainment law. While entertaining and very ripe for comment I ended feeling this was the weakest section of the book in some ways. We go through Bruce’s life so quickly here that is hard at times to be as immersed in his psyche as we find ourselves at other points of the book. This is the section where a normal reader may find themselves more caught up in the frequent name dropping and this is where it gets closer to run of the mill memoir. It just so happens that this is the least relatable section, but Jackson still find a way to make it very enjoyable to read.
Although, the book end up finishing very strong! The last section of the book goes through Bruce’s life at Microsoft and Jackson, once again, gets us deep into the psyche of a man at odds with his surroundings and surviving and thriving despite it. Bruce makes extremely tough and consequential decisions here, and the writing puts you right there wondering what you would decide before taking you on the journey of Bruce’s decisions. I particularly enjoyed the commentary on generational fatherhood trauma, and Jackson’s writing keeps you on your toes by not giving the critique away until the very end. Often taking the surprising and rare taken opportunity to be critical of his own pride and alerting you to how his trauma shaped his decisions without him even realizing it at the time.
What a wonderful, refreshing and surprising read! This is sure to be a standout for the rest of the year. Jackson paints an grueling tale with an ultimately critical yet optimistic finale.
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