I love this hybrid memoir. I am profoundly grateful for Laymon's feminist consciousness that imbues the whole book. It is a gift to read about the intersection of race and gender from the perspective of a black man. The tragic vulnerability of addiction that Keise explores is humanizing and complicated. Heavy interrogates the idea that even ones heroes and perhaps ideals are flawed.Publisher Description:
Provocative and genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon sets out to lose 150 pounds in a year, talks with his mother and grandmother about their relationships to "weight" in America-and chronicles what a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception do to a black body, a black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse.