How We Fight for Our Lives

By Saeed Jones,

Book cover of How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir

Book description

WINNER OF THE 2020 STONEWALL BOOK AWARD-ISRAEL FISHMAN NONFICTION AWARD

"Jones's voice and sensibility are so distinct that he turns one of the oldest of literary genres inside out and upside down." NPR'S Fresh Air

Jones tells the story of a young, black, gay man from the South as heā€¦

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Why read it?

3 authors picked How We Fight for Our Lives as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Iā€™d recommend this to a fiery young student who is coming to terms with his identity. Even though Jones gets really specific about certain encounters in this memoir, Iā€™d risk the censorship for an adolescent to know he was not alone.

This book is absolutely divine. It really gets into the heart of a poet, his alienation on a Midwestern campus, his complicated relationship with familyā€”leading to the last line of last lines, ā€˜We are both here because of our mothersā€™, which may not do anything for you now, but once you read the book, it will soak your heartā€¦

From childhood through college and a burgeoning career, the authorā€™s honest and unambiguous voice matures as he paints a vivid picture of growing up poor, Black, and gay. Despite societal and familial challenges, having a loving single mother committed to his education helped him to navigate to success. Page after page, readers will find something relatable in unexpected ways.

Jones first emerged in bookstores with his poetry collection Prelude to Bruise. While some may have been expecting another volume of poetry as a follow-up, he released a memoirā€”an utterly powerful telling of his life, ā€œwritten at the crossroads of sex, race, and power.ā€ While Jonesā€™ journey alone makes for intense reading, his prose makes the experience wholly unique; a poet to the core, Jones imbues his sentences with such singular voice and style that youā€™re left in awe of his command of languageā€”and the possibilities to reimagine your own sentences.

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