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*From the Georgia Author of the Year Award Winner*
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK IN ESSENCE MAGAZINE, THE MILLIONS AND BOOKISH
"Don't Cry for Me is a perfect song."—Jesmyn Ward
A Black father makes amends with his gay son through letters written on his deathbed in this wise and penetrating novel of empathy and forgiveness, for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robert Jones Jr. and Alice Walker
As Jacob lies dying, he begins to write a letter to his only son, Isaac. They have not met or spoken in many years, and there are things that Isaac must know. Stories about his ancestral legacy in rural Arkansas that extend back to slavery. Secrets from Jacob's tumultuous relationship with Isaac's mother and the shame he carries from the dissolution of their family. Tragedies that informed Jacob's role as a father and his reaction to Isaac's being gay.
But most of all, Jacob must share with Isaac the unspoken truths that reside in his heart. He must give voice to the trauma that Isaac has inherited. And he must create a space for the two to find peace.
With piercing insight and profound empathy, acclaimed author Daniel Black illuminates the lived experiences of Black fathers and queer sons, offering an authentic and ultimately hopeful portrait of reckoning and reconciliation. Spare as it is sweeping, poetic as it is compulsively readable, Don't Cry for Me is a monumental novel about one family grappling with love's hard edges and the unexpected places where hope and healing take flight.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 1, 2022 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780369718808
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780369718808
- File size: 465 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Library Journal
September 1, 2021
On his deathbed, a Black father named Jacob writes a letter to his gay son, Isaac, to whom he has not spoken in many years. Jacob seeks not only reconciliation but the opportunity to communicate family and ancestral truths to his only son as he recalls a rural Arkansas background dating to the days of enslavement, his painfully chaotic relationship with Isaac's mother, and his sorrow at the collapse of their family. Above all, he senses where he failed as a father. From the multi-award-nominated author of Tell Me of a Home; with a 75,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly
December 13, 2021
Black (The Sacred Place) chronicles a father’s confession of his failures in this heartbreaking narrative. Jacob Swinton writes to his estranged gay son, Isaac, in an effort to, in Jacob’s words, provide a “record of a poor Black father’s appeal... what any dying daddy might say to his son.” Jacob recounts his years growing up in Arkansas, where he bullied a queer classmate, and describes his courtship with his wife, Rachel, and their move to Kansas City, where they had Isaac. He also offers insight on Black history and the power of reading, and writes eloquently about the country versus the city, but the core is about how Jacob treats Isaac—having asked him, for instance, “Do you wanna be a sissy, boy?” at the breakfast table after deriding his son for resisting sports, kissing a doll, and performing in a school play. Jacob’s shame is made palpable in his alternately hurtful and supportive correspondence (“I wonder how to fix you”; “You weren’t the son I wanted”; “Be the kind of man you are, but be a man”), and the wisdom he gains along the way brings him to concluding remarks that are poignant and moving. The painful narrative of regret can feel preachy at times, but it is consistently powerful. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. -
Library Journal
Starred review from October 1, 2021
In his introduction to this epistolary novel, Black (They Tell Me of a Home) says, "More than anything, I want readers to reconsider the capacity of our fathers' hearts," and it is precisely such heartfelt reconsideration that he delivers. On his deathbed, 62-year-old Black father Jacob is writing a letter to his gay son, Isaac, whom he hasn't seen in years. Jacob acknowledges the damage he did in not accepting Isaac and seeks to clarify how a tough pre-1960s Arkansas upbringing shaped his understanding of what was expected of him as a man and what he should expect of the world. It's hard work for a man scraping by to support a family, and Jacob's grandaddy thought that showing his family hardness was the right thing to do, just as Jacob thought that tearing apart the action figure Isaac kissed on Christmas morning was the right thing to do. But the world has changed, and as he expresses both love and sorrow Jacob is finally catching up. What results is the story of a complex father-son relationship and a man transformed, even at this late moment. VERDICT A deeply perceptive evocation of what it has meant to be a man and especially a Black man in the United States, all the more affecting for not being shouted out but told with quiet, sturdy intimacy.--Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Formats
- Kindle Book
- OverDrive Read
- EPUB ebook
Languages
- English
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