My husband and I have made a point of taking Black history tours when we visit U.S. cities. I loved Smith's perspective on the tours that he took of Monticello, Angola Prison, the Whitney Plantation, Blandford Cemetery, and Manhattan. Particularly insightful were his interviews with the tour guides who have taken on the responsibility of "passing the word."
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR A NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
'A beautifully readable reminder of how much of our urgent, collective history resounds in places all around us that have been hidden in plain sight.' Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)
Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks - those that are honest about the past and those that are not - which offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in…
https://a.co/d/4vlJJGv The stories in Lisa Alvarez’s new short story collection Some Final Beauty are about real characters living their lives with purpose, resilience, dignity, and strength. Alvarez has a perceptive eye for detail and nuance and can most certainly stick a landing. Each of the eleven stories resolves, not by perfectly tying up every loose end but by allowing the character to hope for a better future.
In the first story of the collection, Laurie walks home with the lyrics to the anti-Fascist protest hymn “Freiheit” carefully folded in her pocket “as if she might have future occasions to sing the song again.” In the heartbreaking “We Told You So,” Barefoot Roy, a canyon elder, tells the grieving widower Angelo, “We did good.” Angelo agrees. “Good enough,” he says.
In the title story of the collection, Toni waits patiently, “suspecting that it will take a while for some to come to what she had finally found.” Alvarez’s characters may be self-proclaimed “do-gooders” as Maggie and Nick call themselves in “The Frontera Grill,” the final story in the collection, but they are never self-righteous.
“It’s what good neighbors do,” a mother tells her daughter in “False Flag, adding, “And we can use the eggs.”
In these troubled times, we can all use these essential stories Bravo Alvarez.
Some Final Beauty and Other Stories showcases women and Chicanx characters whose resistance, reconciliation, and strength vigorously affirm community. Author Lisa Alvarez captures the spirit of empowerment in the struggle for justice faced by marginalized communities in a nation defined by politicians from Reagan to Trump.
From the vibrant streets of Southern California to the arid Nevada Nuclear Test Site, these thematically linked stories explore self-discovery, rebellion, and solidarity as complex personalities and values meet at the intersection of art, love, relationships, activism, and identity. A Mexican American returns from WWII to encounter Paul Robeson. A Spanish Civil War veteran…
Andrea's childhood experiences of molestation and the resulting self-blame and self-harm are chilling. Surviving this abuse is unimaginable and yet Andrea is able to recount what happened with a clear eye, allowing the reader to experience the full force of the physical and emotional impacts.
Andrea takes the reader through the tremendous betrayals, the heartbreaking "failed fresh starts," and the eventual healing and redemption. The period details of clothing and furnishings were especially effective.
For readers of I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, a candid and heart-wrenching memoir about child abuse, family secrets, and the healing that begins once the truth is revealed and the past is confronted.
Andrea is four and a half the first time her father, David, gives her a bath. Although she is young, she knows there is something strange about the way he is touching her. When her mother, Marlene, walks in to check on them, she howls and crumples to the floor—and when she opens her eyes, she is…
Set in the summer of 2017 in a suburban coastal town, five neighbors search for community in a neighborhood where no one can agree who belongs. A story about connection, empathy, and realizing you have more in common with those people you make assumptions about that you might realize.
