Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. In the title story, when a cosplayer, dressed as his favorite anime character, is mistaken for a violent threat the consequences are dire in another story, a teen struggles between her upper middle class upbringing and her desire to fully connect with so-called black culture. Some are darkly humorous-two mothers exchanging snide remarks through notes in their kids' backpacks-while others are devastatingly poignant. Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with race, identity politics, and the contemporary middle class in this "vivid, fast, funny, way-smart, and verbally inventive" (George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo) collection.Įach captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of utterly original characters. In one of the season's most acclaimed works of fiction-longlisted for the National Book Award and winner of the PEN Open Book Award-Nafissa Thompson-Spires offers "a firecracker of a book.a triumph of storytelling: intelligent, acerbic, and ingenious" ( Financial Times). Boldly resisting categorization and easy answers, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is an original and necessary voice in contemporary fiction.Included in Best Books of 2018 Lists from Refinery29, NPR, The Root, HuffPost, Vanity Fair, Bustle, Chicago Tribune, PopSugar, and The Undefeated.
Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satirical, and captivating in turn, engaging in the ongoing conversations about race and identity politics, as well as the vulnerability of the black body.
Some are darkly humorous-from two mothers exchanging snide remarks through notes in their kids' backpacks, to the young girl contemplating how best to notify her Facebook friends of her impending suicide-while others are devastatingly poignant-a new mother and funeral singer who is driven to madness with grief for the young black boys who have fallen victim to gun violence, or the teen who struggles between her upper middle class upbringing and her desire to fully connect with black culture. A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes.Įach captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters.
0 kommentar(er)
