Portland Public Library

How we fight for our lives, a memoir, Saeed Jones

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

autobiography

index present

non fiction

How we fight for our lives

bibliography

1086495363

Saeed Jones

a memoir

"People don't just happen," writes Saeed Jones. "We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. The 'I' it seems doesn't exist until we are able to say, 'I am no longer yours.'" Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir. Jones tells the story of a young, black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Through a series of vignettes that chart a course across the American landscape, Jones draws readers into his boyhood and adolescence - into tumultuous relationships with his family, into passing flings with lovers, friends, and strangers. Each piece builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one another - and to one another - as we fight to become ourselves. An award-winning poet, Jones has developed a style that's as beautiful as it is powerful - a voice that's by turns a river, a blues, and a nightscape set ablaze. --, From dust jacket