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A review by cindy_f
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
4.0
If I Survive You
This debut novel by Jonathan Escoffery is a collection of short stories that tell of the lives of an immigrant Jamaican family as they strive for survival in Miami, Florida. We meet Trelawny, the only American born family member and youngest son. His older brother is Delano and their parents are Topper and Sanya, who speak in the dialect known as Patois.
I connected with the stories involving Trelawny the most. As a young child he was asked questions by his school mates, such as “What are you?” “Why does your mother talk so funny?” He asks his mother if he’s black and gets an unsatisfactory answer. He ponders where he fits in such an ethnically diverse city.
He later attends a Midwest college were he most definitely is black, but in the eyes of the black folks, he looks and talks white.
When he returns home, he lives out of his Raider and takes on a series of dodgy jobs to make ends meet. He also has a complicated relationship with his brother and father, partly because he feels his father loves Delano more than him.
In an earlier story, his father addresses Trawlany using mostly Partois so I did struggle a bit with the meaning. I looked up some words; pickney means child, yardies is slang for Jamaican diaspora, and overproof is a strong rum. I appreciated the authenticity here.
Escoffery has a unique style of storytelling. I wonder why he chose to use short stories and multiple narrators rather than a more linear approach. Regardless, it’s a beautiful story of relationships and belonging in America that takes on a humorous tone.
Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC in exchange for my review.
This debut novel by Jonathan Escoffery is a collection of short stories that tell of the lives of an immigrant Jamaican family as they strive for survival in Miami, Florida. We meet Trelawny, the only American born family member and youngest son. His older brother is Delano and their parents are Topper and Sanya, who speak in the dialect known as Patois.
I connected with the stories involving Trelawny the most. As a young child he was asked questions by his school mates, such as “What are you?” “Why does your mother talk so funny?” He asks his mother if he’s black and gets an unsatisfactory answer. He ponders where he fits in such an ethnically diverse city.
He later attends a Midwest college were he most definitely is black, but in the eyes of the black folks, he looks and talks white.
When he returns home, he lives out of his Raider and takes on a series of dodgy jobs to make ends meet. He also has a complicated relationship with his brother and father, partly because he feels his father loves Delano more than him.
In an earlier story, his father addresses Trawlany using mostly Partois so I did struggle a bit with the meaning. I looked up some words; pickney means child, yardies is slang for Jamaican diaspora, and overproof is a strong rum. I appreciated the authenticity here.
Escoffery has a unique style of storytelling. I wonder why he chose to use short stories and multiple narrators rather than a more linear approach. Regardless, it’s a beautiful story of relationships and belonging in America that takes on a humorous tone.
Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC in exchange for my review.