Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Heavy: An American Memoir
    Heavy: An American Memoir
    Heavy: An American Memoir
    Audiobook6 hours

    Heavy: An American Memoir

    Written by Kiese Laymon

    Narrated by Kiese Laymon

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    *Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, Buzzfeed (Nonfiction), The Undefeated, Library Journal (Biography/Memoirs), The Washington Post (Nonfiction), Southern Living (Southern), Entertainment Weekly, and The New York Times Critics*

    In this powerful, provocative, and universally lauded memoir—winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal and finalist for the Kirkus Prize—genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon “provocatively meditates on his trauma growing up as a black man, and in turn crafts an essential polemic against American moral rot” (Entertainment Weekly).

    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 time in New York as a college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. Heavy is a “gorgeous, gutting…generous” (The New York Times) memoir that combines personal stories with piercing intellect to reflect both on the strife of American society and on Laymon’s experiences with abuse. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, he asks us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

    “A book for people who appreciated Roxane Gay’s memoir Hunger” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable, an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family through years of haunting implosions and long reverberations. “You won’t be able to put [this memoir] down…It is packed with reminders of how black dreams get skewed and deferred, yet are also pregnant with the possibility that a kind of redemption may lie in intimate grappling with black realities” (The Atlantic).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 16, 2018
    ISBN9781508265818
    Author

    Kiese Laymon

    Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Kiese Laymon is the Ottilie Schillig Professor in English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi and author of the novel Long Division, the memoir Heavy, and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. He was recently named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.

    Related to Heavy

    Related audiobooks

    Personal Memoirs For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Heavy

    4.5/5

    753 ratings59 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      From the first chapter, I felt like I was holding my breathe the entire time. Laymon took hold of my interest and held on to it to the very end. His way with words, his humorous way of diminishing his sorrows and misery, and absolute command (at least he tried to project that) of situations he found himself in, was masterful.

      I laughed at the line about the revolutionary conference in Nairobi maybe a little too much because I’m from Kenya and the image it conjured up in my mind was hilarious. My heart bled and my spirit drowned in tears for Layla, even for Laymon’s mom (the image of her picture at the grocery store against the backdrop of a known and learned media personality was sad). So much darkness, so much of a burden to bear for a young brilliant man. The truth hurts. But the pain is healing especially for those who have gone through such abuses that culturally, the black family turns a blind eye on, covers, makes excuses for. It’s my hope that in writing this, Laymon found healing and a new lease at the life that many times, seemed doomed.

      A memoir that can’t be described as amazing, since only the words are, because the heaviness of it all, is just too much ???. Thank you for sharing your soul with us.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This book. This book was "Heavy". Kie is carrying the weight of his generations on his shoulders and eventually...he breaks. His relationship with his mother is strained and as much as she has accomplished educationally, she has her own demons that are crippling her. Heavy.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Unforgettable! Kiese’s story will stay with me for a long time. Having the author read his work immersed me entirely.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      What an amazing, deep and raw memoir! A definite must-read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      No words... speechless... truly... really an incredible piece of work

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      It wasn't an easy read, and yet it resonated on so many levels. Laymon talks about his childhood, his mother, their (mutual) abuse, later on, their addictions too. He speak of America as seen through the eyes of a heavy black male which so often just didn't fit the picture drawn for him by media or his non-black peers. This is cultural heritage, this is a window to a life I'd never know, and a life I'd never know of, if I hadn't read this book. I felt grateful upon reading it. For Laymon's thorough, bold introduction to him and his life. This book inspired me to become a better ally, the same way that Laymon tried to be an ally for women. Unique story, well-narrated, often shocking and disturbing - the book IS "heavy".

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book was so amazing! The audiobook was so good, it really bought this story to life.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Very interesting style of writing. His explanation of feelings emotions & thoughts at various points of his life are vivid! Gripping is a good description of this book!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Literally “heavy”! This memoir pulled and tugged at my heart. The telling of this young mans journey, was very well written. I appreciated the detailed description of his trials and experiences he went through as a young man and how it effected him growing up. The trauma that he experienced fully effected his future actions it was all just told so beautifully. I felt like I was transformed into his stories and sitting right next to him experiencing what he was feeling his pain and hurt. Thank you for bringing us along in your journey This is definitely a recommended read!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I'm in love with his writing. Poetic, deep, heartbreaking, honest. 5 stars.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent book. Author had me engaged from beginning to end.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Every African American young man should read!

      It is reflective of a mother’s raising and more importantly reflective of the unspoken experience of an African American boy.- like many without a father who learns to make his own stance.

      The experience is exposed with an abundance of words (his mother’s teachings).

      It is a truce that unveils the burdens in which is carried to rise to the occasion of knowing self importance. Become his best self. See the blatant truth of the matter to call out the lies and make a difference! To continue to stand against the harshness of the world, put down the weight so that he may partake of his future.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I've ever read, without rival. His writing is an inspiration to all lovers of literature.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The raw honesty that is this book connected with me in way I will never fully understand as a white women. Thank you for sharing this and for educating your readers, me.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I don’t have words yet to describe the experience of listening to this book. There were so many moments of enlightenment and sadness and hope and despair. It was a beautiful memoir and brought to light so many pieces of a world I had no idea about. It’s worth the listen, and I may go back and listen again.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Incredible. He wasn't kidding when he titled this Heavy. So well written. Utterly captivating.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      STUNNING!

      The word “Heavy” can apply to a lot of the experiences that were described throughout this memoir.

      Weight. Families. Racism. Sex. Relationships.

      This memoir was EVERYTHING.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent, searingly honest memoir. So much to learn in here, grateful for the chance.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Enthralled! Enrapture! Mesmerized! Charmed Voice Narration! Healing! Warrior energy! Affection! Protection! Hidden emotions! Introspection! Caution! Careful Decisions! Multi-dimensional! Dark and Light! Immortality! Dignity! Self-confidence! Self-esteem! Knowledge! Refinement! Beauty and Truth! Sexuality! Pride! Curiosity and much much more!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book was a black man's story that rang so true. Just because he looked like a success does not mean that life and our society had not messed him up inside. Loved it and everyone should read this. Told as pure poetry.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Enlightening!!! An eye opening glimpse into the author’s life truth!!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Raw, truth and so much passion. Narrator really nailed it!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I can relate. I’ve lived . Loved and lost in that world…heavy
    • 5/5
      A very powerful and important memior. A must read. Love that it is read by the author
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written and emotionally impactful. I consumed the whole book in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down - although I did take pauses to process different parts of the story, that were particularly "heavy". Incredibly personal and yet something I think many people can connect with, whether the internal struggles, familial dramas, work dysfunction, or finding where and how you want to exist within your relationships to others or society at large.
    • 5/5
      One of the best author-read audiobooks I've ever listened to and one of the best memoirs I've read in recent memory.
    • 5/5
      Such truth, so moving. I am humbled. A moving memoire.
    • 5/5
      Thank you for writing the truth. I know so very little about the black body experience. This was honest, painful, beautiful. Will be sharing the title with friends!!
    • 5/5
      The title says it all....HEAVY....I was transported to grandmas porch ....
    • 5/5
      Definitely an honest revelation/look into one Black America life but spoke volumes to life in this country for black people.

      I loved it.