Author: Daniel Black
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction
Pages: 244 pages
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (AR, MO, IL)
Summary: Isaac is at a crossroads in his young life. Growing up in Missouri, the son of a caustic, hard-driving father, he was conditioned to suppress his artistic pursuits and physical desires, notions that didn’t align with a traditional view of masculinity. But now, in late ’80s Chicago, Isaac has finally carved out a life of his own. He is sensitive and tenderhearted and has built up the courage to seek out a community. Yet just as he begins to embrace who he is, two social catalysts—the AIDS crisis and Rodney King’s attack—collectively extinguish his hard-earned joy.
At a therapist’s encouragement, Isaac begins to write down his story. In the process, he taps into a creative energy that will send him on a journey back to his family, his ancestral home in Arkansas and the inherited trauma of the nation’s dark past. But a surprise discovery will either unlock the truths he’s seeking or threaten to derail the life he’s fought so hard to claim.
Review: This novel is so good. It reaches into Isaac's soul and puts it out there for the reader to see.
At first, I liked the book. Isaac is a man in therapy struggling to deal with his father's past discipline, his mother's never-ending support, and his own sexuality. And then BAM! Ancestral trauma, reevaluating memories, and Isaac's willingness to openly look at his life happened, and I loved the book.
We all have our opinions and views on how we were raised, our relationships with our parents and siblings, etc but what happens if we start to explore them, and talk with our parents about our shared past? What happens is a better understanding of our parents, our relationship, and ourselves. This novel is a coming-of-age story for an adult, and it's powerful. Add in the author's well-written prose and measured pace, and we have a winner.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Alphabet Author--B
- Alphabet Title--I
- Bookish--character is writing his memoir
- Cover Lovers--A bird
- Literary Escapes--Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri
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