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A review by lovelykd
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
3.0
A bit weird and confusing but definitely interesting.
The book takes place in three different decades (‘64, ‘85, and 2013) and, as far as I could tell, the characters within the actual story—of whichever decade Laymon is visiting—all connect via a book called LONG DIVISION; that book, coincidentally, also tells the story of those same characters, for the respective characters reading about them, within whatever timeline they reside.
Confused yet?
Yeah …well, join the party.
Honestly, the more I read, the more I was unsure as to who was real and who was a fictionalization; perhaps that was the point? I’m still unsure but I’m not sure the details actually matter as much as the message Laymon was trying to get across: no matter when or where you are, Black folks are consistently attempting to survive the terrors of white violence and interference.
City, the main protagonist throughout the book, just wants to live his life, on his own terms, without the bullshit. However, the white communities he inhabits (or visits) continually screw with him, or those he loves, for no other reason than them being able to …and it’s annoying as hell.
By the end, I may not have understood whose story was real but I understood this: white supremacy has always found a way to make Black living hard.
The book takes place in three different decades (‘64, ‘85, and 2013) and, as far as I could tell, the characters within the actual story—of whichever decade Laymon is visiting—all connect via a book called LONG DIVISION; that book, coincidentally, also tells the story of those same characters, for the respective characters reading about them, within whatever timeline they reside.
Confused yet?
Yeah …well, join the party.
Honestly, the more I read, the more I was unsure as to who was real and who was a fictionalization; perhaps that was the point? I’m still unsure but I’m not sure the details actually matter as much as the message Laymon was trying to get across: no matter when or where you are, Black folks are consistently attempting to survive the terrors of white violence and interference.
City, the main protagonist throughout the book, just wants to live his life, on his own terms, without the bullshit. However, the white communities he inhabits (or visits) continually screw with him, or those he loves, for no other reason than them being able to …and it’s annoying as hell.
By the end, I may not have understood whose story was real but I understood this: white supremacy has always found a way to make Black living hard.