A review by golem
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

Did not finish book.
I picked this up at the recommendation of a friend and read it for longer than I meant to, because it is mesmerizingly well-written. I was also intrigued by the author's suggestion that this wouldn't be the kind of book that appealed to white people with an endless hunger for Black suffering. When I got to the parts with sexual violence between kids I put it down, remembering why I don't read memoirs and also remembering about 100 other highly recommended/award-winning books that begin with graphic sexual violence against BIPOC and/or queer kids, and most of which I also put down very early. But this is not a complaint against the author, who is brilliant and talented and has the right to complete honesty. It's just that I do not like how much the genre seems at times to encourage an appetite for this kind of suffering.
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