@article{856869,
      recid = {856869},
      author = {Laymon, Kiese,},
      title = {Heavy : an American memoir /},
      pages = {xiv, 241 pages ;},
      abstract = {"In this powerful and provocative memoir, Kiese Laymon  fearlessly 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. Laymon invites us to consider the consequences of  living in a country 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 family, weight, sex, gambling, and  writing. 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 of us know how to responsibly love"--},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/856869},
}