Heavy

Gorgeous. Devastating. Both a really easy read and a REALLY tough read. Heavy is a masterpiece

Woooow. So vulnerable, so brutally honest, so well written. Strongly recommend you get the audio so Kiese can tell you his tale himself. Unflinchingly tough but necessary to hear. Absolutely in my top reads of the year.

3.5

Black Abundance! Thought provoking and raw.

Holy shit.

dang.

Kiese Laymon's memoir is about more than physical weight, but also of the heaviness of the things we carry inside us. A stark portrayal of growing up Black in the South, Heavy is often startling, often jarring, often difficult to read. The rawness and honesty, particularly when Layton outlines his struggles with gambling and eating disorder, makes this a heavy read; the discussion of family and how they shape you is weighty. This is not a memoir to be taken lightly, but it is one to read knowing you will learn, and feel, a lot.

How can someone write so beautifully while at the same time convey such heartache and pain? The words flow like water...showing the author's vulnerability in it's barest form.

There's a part where he's writing to his Grandmamma and he's asking her to help him with his words. He then lays out his pain for her, still in written form, and asks for her help again. Broke my heart with the sadness and utter devstation that he shares.

Then you keep reading and are smacked with this: “Everything you thought you knew changes tomorrow. Being twice as excellent as white folk will get you half of what they get. Being anything less will get you hell.” This wrecked me.

I love that I found Literati because it led me to Jesmyn Ward and her club, which led me to this book. Heavy is an accurate title but it's not heavy in the way you might first think...it's heavy in every meaning possible and some you probably didn't even know.

It's difficult to review a memoir. No matter how beautifully it is written and no matter how eye-opening the experience, a memoir is so very personal to the author. A mediocre or bad review is almost like saying the author sucks as a person. The closest I can come is to recommend the book to others (check) and to say, is this the best way this story could have been told? Answer: I believe so.

A new favorite. There's nothing I admire more than a writer who strikes the perfect balance of honesty, vulnerability, bluntness, and wisdom in a piece of writing. A true, true must-read.