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Heavy: An American Memoir
Heavy: An American Memoir | Kiese Laymon
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blurb
Lindy
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My old luggage tag disintegrated so I made a new one out of duct tape and jazzed it up with a bookmark. On my way today to Brooklyn to cat sit for a friend… any Littens want to meet up there before December 14?
#LitsyCrafters

20 likes1 stack add
review
Zuhkeeyah
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Pickpick

Kiese‘s writing is raw and unflinching. He speaks to the repeated trauma of being Black in America. How that hurt sometimes comes from those who love us best. He addresses what it means to have a Black body that stays heavy with the secrets and scars it carries no matter what number the scale shows.

The sentence describing an encounter with a policeman hit hard after reading James: “That fool got madder because you were speaking correct English.”

TheBookHippie This book has stayed with me since I first read the ARC. 5mo
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 5mo
16 likes3 comments
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DimeryRene
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Pickpick

Heavy content for sure. 💔
Beautiful and raw memoir.

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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
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Please help me choose which books to take to the mountains!! 🏔️ I‘m so indecisive!! 🤷🏻‍♀️ What are your recommendations?! 📚🎄

#LitsyLove
#LitsyLoveReads

MaureenMc I haven‘t read her latest yet, but I love Ariel Lawhon‘s books! 12mo
See All 11 Comments
JamieArc I‘ve heard so many great things about The Frozen River. 12mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @JamieArc got it in my bag! 💙🤍 12mo
Gissy I haven‘t read it yet but maybe Cosby‘s book 12mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Gissy ❤️❤️❤️ 12mo
50 likes11 comments
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Amor4Libros
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Pickpick

This was beautiful. Very painful and relatable, but beautiful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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SconsinBookyBadger
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I recently signed up on the fable app to join LeVar Burton‘s Book Club. There‘s a several months wait list for the club‘s current read Heaven and Earth at the Grocery Store with local library, interloans, and on the libby app. Since last month‘s tagged book is available I‘ll be listening to that one for the #rushathon.

@DieAReader @Andrew65 @GHABI4ROSES

DieAReader ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 1y
Andrew65 Hope you enjoy it. 1y
24 likes1 stack add2 comments
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JenReadsAlot
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Pickpick

Heavy is an appropriate title for his book.

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Sleepswithbooks
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TheSpineView Love this quote!❤️📚 2y
77 likes1 comment
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triplem80
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Pickpick

This book was so, so, so good! I'm not a huge audiobook lover, but listening was a great way to take in Kiese's story. Hearing it told in his own voice (literally and figuratively) was fantastic. He tackles some pretty tough issues in his life ("heavy" topics, you could say), but the telling was almost poetic. Glad I finally read this!

Even better, it knocks off a book on my #rolldecember list (so glad I found you, @PuddleJumper !).

PuddleJumper Brilliant! 2y
11 likes1 comment
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ChaoticMissAdventures
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Pickpick

Incredible writing, on some (excuse the pun) heavy topics. A look at Laymon's childhood and relationship with his mother and how his trauma manifested into body dysmorphia, gambling addiction, and how it affected his relationships. A raw and open book that felt incredibly personal.

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Bookpearl
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Resist Books you had me at hello! Resist Books launched their online store last week and I‘ve been over the moon. #resistbooks #heavy #selfcareforblackwomen

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MelKelsey
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Pickpick

Book 20

I listened to Heavy by Kiese Laymon. It's a memoir about weight, sexual abuse, and race written to the author's mother. While well-written, it's very emotionally disturbing and difficult to read. 3.5 stars

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Lvpthemvp

Oh my. What a book. Yes! Kiese thank you for your transparency

Nute Yes! 3y
6 likes1 comment
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ParkerFinn
Pickpick

Something I think everyone needs to read. I went into these memoir knowing nothing and came out with a new perspective on what it means to find truth and tell it. It‘s heart breaking and angering at the same time. Definitely a book that will stay with me for a long time.

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andreajanel_reads
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"Unacknowledged scars accumulated in battles won often hurt more than battles lost."

My reread of this memoir is wrecking me all over again.

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youneverarrived
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Pickpick

LOVE this book 🖤 it‘s written and read beautifully, poetically, honestly. I went on long walks with this one just so I could listen to it. I don‘t re-read often but I would listen to this again. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Using for something by a POC #nonfiction2021

AmyG What a cutie! 4y
squirrelbrain Such a cutie! 4y
TrishB Awww 😊 4y
See All 16 Comments
Cathythoughts Your little one looking great !! Happy days ❤️ 4y
vivastory Adorable!! 4y
JennyM I want to smoosh that beautiful face❤️❤️❤️ 4y
LeahBergen Oh, that sweet face! 🥰 4y
Reggie What a cutie! 4y
batsy Oh, he is adorable ❤️ 4y
andrew61 Very cute, lovely photo. 4y
youneverarrived @Cathythoughts growing up quick! Best days of my life ♥️ 4y
youneverarrived @JennyM I‘ll smoosh it for you 😘😘 4y
readordierachel Awwww ❤ 4y
BiblioLitten Hello there, cutie!! 🥰🥰😘 4y
MemoirsForMe Awww! Adorable! 💕 4y
71 likes1 stack add16 comments
quote
derr.liz
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"...the most abusive parts of our nation obsessively neglect yesterday while peddling in possibility. I remembered that we got here by refusing to honestly remember together. I remembered that it was easier to promise than it was to reckon or change."

12 likes1 stack add
blurb
TheBookDream
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I‘m supposed to have all this done by the end of the month for various book clubs 😦

PurpleTulipGirl You don‘t need to sleep, do you? 4y
TheBookDream @PurpleTulipGirl 🤣 well, I‘m not anyways 4y
36 likes2 comments
review
readordierachel
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Pickpick

In this memoir addressed to his mother, Laymon shares the weight of being a black boy and man in the U.S., childhood trauma, romantic and familial relationships, gambling addiction, body dysmorphia, and disordered eating/exercising. It feels rare to hear a cis man openly talk about their experiences with the latter. Not an easy read but I'm glad to have read it.

vivastory Stacking. Have been looking for more memoirs by poc since reading 4y
readordierachel @vivastory That one is on my list after your review! 4y
95 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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eccburnham
Pickpick

Amazing experience on audio! Dunno how he did that. Hope this read makes me a more compassionate student and teacher. Oberlin & Vassar connections.

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nelehelen
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Pickpick

The sheer talent, tenacity & heart that the author exhibits in his memoir is astounding. As Laymon dissects his relationship with his body, writing, addiction & family, he explores the weight that black bodies carry and how this weight, perceived by society as dangerous & disposable, is rooted deeply in American society. Layered and complex, this memoir felt like the the truest representation of a human and of a black man living in America.

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staci.reads
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Pickpick

Wow. This one will stick with me a long while. A memoir that is honest and painful and lyrical all at the same time. This is my first Laymon, but How to Slowly Kill Yourself and others in America is definitely getting moved up on my list now. Highly recommend!

61 likes1 stack add
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Blaire
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Pickpick

Listening to this memoir blew me away. It was beautiful and heart-breaking. Listening to him grappling with his childhood, his relationship with his mother, his body, his career, traum andhow all of it was impacted by racism (both explicit and systemic) was so compelling. I listened to it in 2 stints. Highly recommend.

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SanjanaGhosh
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Mehso-so

65:2020

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Megabooks
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Pickpick

This is my first audio read and his voice turns prose into poetry! Kiese writes this to his mother about their tumultuous relationship. How they brought out the best and worst in each other. It is also about how Black bodies are used and abused in society as well as how he abused his own through weight loss and gain. A short, but very deep read. 5⭐️ #reread #audiobook

REPollock I heard him read from this two summers ago. It‘s powerful. 4y
Megabooks @REPollock so powerful. 4y
Reviewsbylola Really powerful stuff. ❤️ 4y
See All 6 Comments
Wife I really liked Heavy. Another audiobook that you might like is 4y
Megabooks @Wife I tried to listen to Hollywood Park, but I didn‘t like that he wrote it from the perspective of a child. It felt awkward to me, so I bailed, which is too bad because his story sounded interesting. 4y
94 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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Emilymdxn
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Pickpick

I can‘t believe I left it so long to read this! This was so special and original and I loved how Kiese didn‘t reduce down any of the complexity in his story. He let himself and so many other people have so many layers. The writing about his body is probably what will stick with me most though. I‘ve never read such raw, profound writing about a Black man‘s relationship with his body.

Megabooks Yes, such a wonderful book. Great review! 4y
69 likes1 stack add1 comment
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crazyspine
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Pickpick

His writing style is dream-like. I became attached to the author as a character and was rooting for him the whole way.

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sarahlandis
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Pickpick

“America seemed filled with violent people who like causing people pain but hate when those people tell them that pain hurts.“
This book was beautiful. There is a lot to process in it. Laymon flows from story to story of abuse he's faced and how his trauma manifested and always came back to the metaphor of being heavy. Being black in america is heavy, but heavy and black in america is heavy. The emotional, physical, mental trauma.. is heavy.

3 likes1 stack add
blurb
Megabooks
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So there are some great deals today on BIPOC authors in the US.

Heavy I read as an audiobook, and I highly recommend! The deal today is on the Kindle ebook.

I read Elizabeth Acevedo‘s second book, so I‘m excited to go back and read her first, especially since I‘ve heard it‘s great on audio!

I also picked up the Ward both on Kindle and I added the audiobook for just $3.99. I‘m really excited to read her nonfiction.

#integrateyourshelf

MicheleinPhilly Men We Reaped is incredible. 4y
SamAnne Loved Heavy (did audio) and The Men We Reaped. 4y
allureofbeauty I really want the poet x but I don‘t have a sub to audible right now. Blah. 4y
Megabooks @MicheleinPhilly @SamAnne I‘m really excited to read The Men We Reaped! I‘ve been wanting to for awhile. 4y
77 likes5 comments
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Librarian
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Pickpick

Beautifully written, difficult but important to read. Truly heavy on the mind and soul.

“I wanted to write a lie. You wanted to read that lie. I wrote this to you instead.”

I‘ll be thinking about this book for a while.

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EKonrad
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Pickpick

An incredibly timely and valuable memoir. Laymon‘s writing is heart wrenching and beautiful at the same time. I feel privileged to have read it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

S3V3N I really liked this one. 5y
34 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
cajunsyd
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One of my library hauls from the early days of COVID-19. Seems an appropriate time to start this one.

EKonrad Just started reading this too. Definitely appropriate for what‘s happening these days! 5y
cajunsyd @EKonrad 👍🏻 5y
35 likes2 comments
quote
PapiJ
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“I wanted to write a lie. You wanted to read that lie. I wrote this to you instead”

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PMMREADS
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Pickpick

@kieselaymon

“Most days my body did not want to practice, but I convinced it that sitting still and writing were a path to memory.”

“We were both telling the truth.”
“We were both lying.”
“We were both telling the truth.”

“There was no wealth in our family, you told me more than once. There were only paydays.”

“We cannot live healthy lives in the present if we drown ourselves in the past.”

diovival That last line. Oof. 5y
12 likes1 comment
quote
andioop

Some broken folk do whatever they can not to break other folk. If we‘re gone be broken, I wonder if we can be those kind of broken folk from now on. I think it‘s possible to be broken and ask for help without breaking other people.

review
andioop
Pickpick

I do not know how to begin describing this book.
Someone said it‘s a book everyone with a mother should read. It‘s also a book everyone with a body should read.
Our bodies are not just vehicles for our sentience. They are sentient. They are us.
I am so tired after reading this.
I am not the “us” of this book. It is not for me. It is for Mary, and it is for Black mamas and babies. But, in a way, it is for all of us.

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BrownGirlReading
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Pickpick

This is my first book of 2020 and it was EXCEPTIONAL!!!! This memoir is poignant, real, and raw. It emotionally took me out! Released in 2019, Heavy was probably one of the best American memoirs of the year. I highly recommend it!

26 likes4 stack adds
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needleminding
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Been listening to Heavy lately and it's amazing. I don't really love memoirs, generally, but this holds so many layers of experience, speaks with such honesty and love and genuine confusion about both. But also style, bold confidence in language, resilience, and "that Black abundance".

8 likes2 stack adds
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rmaclean4
Pickpick

What I think of this book does not matter. This book was not written for me. I found it brutal, beautiful, disturbing and poetic. In its form it reminds me of On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous. It is a letter from a son written to a single mother.

12 likes2 comments
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ephemeralwaltz
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Pickpick

Completely forgot to review this after finishing it last week! This was recommended to me by one of my professors and although I had heard of it I had no idea how vast this memoir was.
It's written as a (love?) letter to his mother, both a perpetrator of violence against Laymon and at the same time his only protector. Laymon explores what violence (domestic, racist, systemic) does to a non-normative, black, obese body in America.

ephemeralwaltz It is devastating and brilliant, an unknown to me and unique voice. I recommend checking out his interviews and other events on YouTube. He is critical and intricate in both his thinking and writing. A real pleasure to have read! 5y
merelybookish I just finished this too! It was really powerful. And feels like required reading, especially for people in the US! 5y
readordierachel Great review 5y
ephemeralwaltz @merelybookish very! I'm glad you liked it. @readordierachel thank you!❤️ i hope you like it if you decide to read it. 5y
55 likes2 stack adds4 comments
blurb
rmaclean4
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Starting this memoir today. I have read some great reviews! #NFNov #nonfictionnovember

Clwojick 1 pt. 5y
19 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
merelybookish
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I've spent most of today in the car. Dropping off and picking up people at school, the orthodontist, and the airport. I'm pooped!
The only upside is all that driving meant I listened to about half of this memoir. It is beautiful, important, and heavy.
#TIL The name Kiese means joy.
#nfnov @Clwojick @rsteve388

Blaire I‘ve heard good things about one. 5y
merelybookish @Blaire It's really good! A bit like Coates's Between the World in Me, a very honest and specific story about being black in the US. 5y
rsteve388 4 pts 5y
60 likes3 comments
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merelybookish
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My #weeklyforecast. Finish a few. Start some others. Mostly trying to read for #nfnov.
@cinfhen @Clwojick @rsteve388

vivastory I hope you like (not sure that's the right word) In Cold Blood 5y
Megabooks Heavy is so good! 5y
Cinfhen Sounds like a sustainable plan!! I‘m trying to read a bit “more” for #NFNovember too 5y
See All 10 Comments
readordierachel Good plan! 5y
merelybookish @vivastory Everyone sings its praises so I'm going in with high hopes! 🤞 5y
merelybookish @Megabooks Oh my, good and heavy! 5y
merelybookish @Cinfhen We'll see! 🙂 5y
BarbaraBB In Cold Blood is sooooo good! 5y
rsteve388 1 pt 5y
62 likes10 comments
blurb
KryssyB
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Currently listening to - Heavy by Kiese Laymon

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scowler1
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Mehso-so

A great book in many ways and quite an important work I would say, but it did get a little tedious past the halfway point and lost its impact. Brilliant writing though.

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S3V3N
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Pickpick

Excellent memoir. Raw and real.

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thebluestocking
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Pickpick

As it says on the tin, this was heavy in subject matter. A memoir about Kiese‘s teen/early adult years, it deals with sexism and racism and health and abuse. I found it to be well written and insightful. The audiobook experience was superb; it‘s read by the author.

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Kdunkelberg
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Heavy is at the top of my stack for the Eudora Welty Writers‘ Symposium. KieseLaymon will be our keynote author, October 10-12, 2019, at Mississippi University for Women!

JamieArc If you have time, the audiobook of Heavy is really well-read. I believe the author does it himself, and he reads it so rhythmically, I couldn‘t imagine myself getting it right while reading. 5y
Kdunkelberg Good to know. I‘m not a fan of audio books, but when the author reads it‘s another experience. Of course anyone can come hear him live and ask questions at the Symposium. I‘ve had that experience before with him, so I can hear his voice as I read. It does make a difference. (edited) 5y
4 likes2 comments
blurb
Kdunkelberg
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Heavy is on the top of my stack for the Eudora Welty Writers‘ Symposium. Kiser Laymon will be our keynote author, October 10-12, 2019, at Mississippi University for Women.

Kdunkelberg Other books: Biloxi by Mary Miller, Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson, Brides in the Sky by Cary Holladay, Green Target by Tina Barr, The Bones of Winter Birds by Ann Fisher-Wirth, dark // thing by Ashley M. Jones, Devonte Travels the Sorry Route by T. J. Anderson III, When You Learn the Alphabet by Kendra Allen, Who Killed Buster Sparkle be John W. Bateman, and Gumbo Life by Ken Wells. 5y
3 likes1 stack add1 comment