My Own Dear People
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- Synopsis
- A young Jamaican man struggles to overcome toxic masculinity—his culture’s and his own—in this Caribbean coming-of-age novel In Montego Bay, Jamaica, teenager Nyjah Messado witnesses a brutal assault by some of the boys in his circle of friends. Torn between the masculine code at his private all boys’ school and his own conscience, Nyjah fails to intervene, and comes of age haunted by the guilt of his inaction. Stylistically engaging, ambitious in scope, and brimming with poetic patois, the novel takes us through a sweeping movement between the younger and more mature selves of Nyjah. We see him trying to come to terms with his own place in multiple worlds: in his family; at school, with its colonial Eurocentric ethos; and within the religion and politics of Montego Bay and the city’s criminal gangs. Similar to Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life and Kate Walbert’s His Favorites, My Own Dear People looks unflinchingly at proclivities toward cruelty, particularly toward women and LGBTQ+ people. Dwight Thompson elevates the tradition of the coming-of-age novel by boldly examining how sexual predation crosses both gay and straight worlds.
- Copyright:
- 2025
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- Book Size:
- 344 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9781636142036
- Related ISBNs:
- 9781636141916, 9781636141916
- Publisher:
- Akashic Books, Ltd.
- Date of Addition:
- 04/01/25
- Copyrighted By:
- Dwight Thompson
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Literature and Fiction
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.