Heavy

By: Kiese Laymon

Narrated by: Kiese Laymon

2018 Audible Audiobook of the Year!

Winner of the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction!

Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal and Kirkus Prize Finalist!

Named a Best Book of 2018 by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Buzzfeed (Nonfiction), The Undefeated, Library Journal (Biography/Memoirs), The Washington Post (Nonfiction), Southern Living (Southern), Entertainment Weekly, and The New York Times Critics

In this powerful and provocative memoir, genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon explores what the weight of a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a Black body, a Black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse.

Kiese Laymon is a fearless writer. In his essays, personal stories combine with piercing intellect to reflect both on the state of American society and on his experiences with abuse, which conjure conflicted feelings of shame, joy, confusion, and humiliation. Laymon invites us to consider the consequences of growing up in a nation wholly obsessed with progress yet wholly disinterested in the messy work of reckoning with where we’ve been.

In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed Black son to a complicated and brilliant Black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence to his suspension from college to his trek to New York as a young college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, Laymon asks himself, his mother, his nation, and us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

A personal narrative that illuminates national failures, Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable, an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family that begins with a confusing childhood - and continues through 25 years of haunting implosions and long reverberations.

©2018 Kiese Laymon (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

This will be a classic!

I listened to the audible version read by the author. I found it to be beautiful and profound. It was like listening to a beautiful long poem. It was honest, painful, and intimate. I heard so much that I could feel in my bones, about addiction, loss, abuse, survival, recovery, and redemption. It called to mind my relationships, with myself, my family, my friends. It speaks of responsibility and insight. It especially speaks to White America and the damage we have doled and continue to inflict.I will listen again as I think there may be much I've missed and I really enjoyed the ride. This is a book that paid out from beginning to end. I'm sorry it ended. I still have so much to learn.

Sometimes the truth does not set you free

Sometimes the truth is just the truth. Loved listening to Kiese read his book. Glad I listened to it instead of reading it. His writing has a lyricism to it that I think you would miss if you just read it. I cannot tell you how much I looked forward to listening to Kiese tell me about his life, his experiences, his feelings, worries, anger, and joys during my commute each day. I wanted (and still want) that happy ending for Kiese and his mother.

Powerful!

Amazing book! It has been a long time since I FELT an author’s words like this. Didn’t want it to end. Blessings to you, Kiese Laymon. May every man, woman and child read this book. You make me proud!

So poignant and beautifully written

This memoir was beautifully written and passionately performed. I love it when the author narrates their story because they are able to bring certain parts of it to life like no one else can. Kiese Laymon chronicles his life in the modern South and at times it’s a reminder that not much has changed. I think this is an excellent read for young Black children who are growing up in the inner city especially young men. Although the settings are different, there’s a lot of relatable content and inspiration for them.

Listen to this book!

It helped me feel the weight he carried literally and metaphorically. The shame, the love, the violence, the compassion, ultimately the whole messy complicated hard truth of being an educated black man in America.

Read this.

This book is so important. Thank you, Kiese. Thank you for not writing a lie.

ENJOYED

well written & read...riveting. Surprised that he became a gambler also. I hope he is now married with children. He would make a great father from the life lessons he had been through.

This felt real and honest.

Hope people of all races read this. I am glad I did. I will pass this on.

It was personal

Good read. Made me recall all the ways I was weighed down by life. How the expectations of others make the burdens we bear that much heavier. Thank you for sharing Mr. Laymon.

Nuanced Poetry

Kiese was able to make me love and hate the child he was, almost as much as he loves and, mostly, hates himself. But somehow, as he gets lighter, I lightened up. I stopped wondering why he never seemed to care about grammar and started understanding his abundance. It’s a beautiful confession and a heavy reminder of why honesty and reflection are vital in the war against the personal shame we all carry with us every day.