A review by chillcox15
What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

5.0

Legit blown away by this one. I didn't have any preconceived notions about What We Lose when I picked it up, and I found myself instantly captivated by the form this novel takes, as an essayistic, fragmented, nonlinear (maybe?) autofiction. There's a much more conventional version of this same coming-of-age story that I would have slogged through or put down halfway through when it was due back at the library, but Clemmons has such a light-footed command of craft that I could have easily read this whole thing in one sitting. It's by serendipity that I read this and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib's essay collection back-to-back, considering they both deal with the premature loss of a mother and the complex questions of black identity in America.