Sacha T. Y. Fortuné

I chose this from an ARC program because I enjoy poetry and have not reviewed a poetry book as yet for my blog.

The Premise

In his landmark debut, Carlos Andrés Gómez interrogates race, gender, sexuality, and violence to explore some of the most pressing issues of our time.

The Pros & Cons

This was a deep, moving, and unsettling collection of poetry that touches on some of the most urgent issues that permeate our society from the past, to the present, and into the future.

The opening piece reflects on the police shooting of Michael Brown Jr., and the sentiment that he cannot protect his family from potential harm in an unjust, racist world. This prelude is just a taste of what’s to come.

At the turn of each page emerges a story within each piece, couched in the framework of a few lines of poetry or prose. One of my favourites was a reflection on race that rings true for many of us, on the tether of parenthood that pulls us back from losing control and retaliating when confronted with racism:

I have watched my body’s primal wisdom flicker dark as a fist-concealed palm, ache so volatile it screams mute. Rage is a language I unlearn […]

–“INTERRACIAL IN FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN”

Another that stayed with me, hauntingly, was human resilience amidst the dark history of segregation that lives alongside us to this day:

[…] the cashier refused to offer her a word, instead pointed to the White Only sign and motioned toward a dung-filled field where she was forced to squat as a busload of tourists watched her slide her drawers to her ankles, trembling to keep her balance, trying to spare her church shoes and her grace.There is a child, four generations from now, who will remember […] a woman he’s never met alive on the wall of his grandmother’s foyer: bloodshot eyes that refuse to look away.

–“UNDERGROUND”

Along with the overarching theme of racism, there are others: homosexuality, masculinity, fatherhood, birth, death, an immigrant’s struggle, and much more.

The overall sense of the body of work is fragments of a whole — a window into the many constructs that make up a man. From practicing to do hair (to get it right though his own father couldn’t with his sister) in preparation for his daughter’s arrival (“I can feel, with each pull and twist, the newly assembled crib watching”); to a father’s fervent prayer every time his Black son is away from home that he returns safely (“I will have nothing to offer the stoic night but clasped hands. And then, I will wait. I will sit beside the front door and wait”); to an immigrant’s duality of existence slipping between contrasting worlds (“You hardly remember your mother tongue. You are trying to pull something useable from the wreckage”), we feel his powerlessness battling with his strength to overcome life’s hurdles and setbacks as he becomes a man, a parent, a person with something worthy to say.

Conclusion

From beginning to end, this collection of poetry leaps off the page to assault all the senses, transporting us into the mind and lived experience of a fragmented, fractured man that represents pieces of us all. He also references contemporary events and other authors, placing his own work into specific contexts for interpretation. As with any amalgamation of poetry, there are many pieces that aren’t entirely straightforward as they may be personal to the author or written in an elusive way; yet the sentiment is there: we feel the meaning, even if we don’t understand every word. This is the kind of work that students of literature can pull apart to analyze, and everyone can find a different kernel of wisdom or poignant phrase to admire. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to others.

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https://a.co/d/d6mgIZV

I chose this from an ARC program because I enjoy memoirs and the topic intrigued me.

The Premise

The author shares her spiritual journey, alongside her daughter Ava’s physical one, from diagnosis to surgeries for a rare disease, revealing the most difficult moments and the greatest victories, while highlighting God’s provision and guidance along the way.

The Pros & Cons

This was a heartfelt and insightful memoir about love, family, and the power of spirituality in coping with illness.

Already blessed with their son Grant, they are thrilled at the addition to the family in their daughter Ava, but at nine months old they notice an odd curvature to her spine. She is eventually diagnosed at fourteen months old with Morquio Syndrome, a rare, progressive, genetic disorder.

The author, her mother Tammy, reflects on the sudden realization that the life she’d envisioned was gone in an instant:

“…We had just been pushed into a whole new world—a world where concern over the health of our child, her physical and mental growth, had suddenly thrown us into a moment-by-moment streaming of vile possibilities and unknowns. How could I think about anything else? How would I function for the good of Greg, Grant, Ava, our home, myself? How was I to get over the stifling grief and continue to do all the things a mom does for her family each day?”

Despite the devastating status of Ava’s illness, her parents are determined to roll with the punches. One example is the t-shirts that poked fun at her “halo” (a neck brace to support her spine) with quotes like: “Yes I’m wearing a halo. Don’t all angels?” and “My halo is fine, but my wings are in the shop.”

This was one of the aspects I loved, as well as just enjoying reading about a little girl’s life that didn’t always center on her disability but also highlighted the beautiful things about her day-to-day life that made her personality shine through — bamboozling her grandma to get a book she wanted, her glee and impromptu performance upon receiving her first pair of ballet shoes, and the typical bickering with her brother.

The memoir was also informational as I learnt a lot about Morquio Syndrome, the clinical trials, the endless testing, and so much more. I also liked the spiritual aspect that was interwoven throughout. Tammy realizes that much of the heavy burden was already carried by God: they had secured a place in the earliest of the clinical trials, He was allowing Ava to get actual medicine rather than placebo, He kept her safe and in the care of the most wonderful medical and support staff, and He had even facilitated the drug company to take care of their expenses; all she had to do was get Ava there and back.

Conclusion

From beginning to end, the reader embarks on the journey with Ava’s family, experiencing the highs and lows of both medical treatments as well as everyday life. As a guide to advise other readers, I must admit I did find the book itself to be quite long (over 530 pages) and there were perhaps parts that could have been shorter; however the author’s frankness and insightful honesty as well as the language and style of writing are engaging throughout. I can see how this memoir was not only part of her own healing process, but also a roadmap for other parents or children that may be in a similar situation. I would highly recommend to other readers, particularly if they enjoy connecting with their religion and/or spirituality. Overall, the lasting message is, no matter how difficult it may seem, to lean on your faith to guide you through. As Tammy states:

“As much as I would love for Ava to have no medical problems whatsoever, I can say that her condition changed my relationship with God for the good in a way nothing else had and perhaps nothing else could.”

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