Don't Cry for Me
A Novel
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Don't Cry for Me
Narrated by:
Daniel Black
Buy Now for £10.76
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Narrated by:
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Daniel Black
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By:
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Daniel Black
About this listen
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK IN ESSENCE MAGAZINE, THE MILLIONS AND BOOKISH
"Don't Cry for Me is a perfect song."—Jesmyn Ward
A Black father makes amends with his gay son through letters written on his deathbed in this wise and penetrating novel of empathy and forgiveness, for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robert Jones Jr. and Alice Walker
As Jacob lies dying, he begins to write a letter to his only son, Isaac. They have not met or spoken in many years, and there are things that Isaac must know. Stories about his ancestral legacy in rural Arkansas that extend back to slavery. Secrets from Jacob's tumultuous relationship with Isaac's mother and the shame he carries from the dissolution of their family. Tragedies that informed Jacob's role as a father and his reaction to Isaac's being gay.
But most of all, Jacob must share with Isaac the unspoken truths that reside in his heart. He must give voice to the trauma that Isaac has inherited. And he must create a space for the two to find peace.
With piercing insight and profound empathy, acclaimed author Daniel Black illuminates the lived experiences of Black fathers and queer sons, offering an authentic and ultimately hopeful portrait of reckoning and reconciliation. Spare as it is sweeping, poetic as it is compulsively readable, Don't Cry for Me is a monumental novel about one family grappling with love's hard edges and the unexpected places where hope and healing take flight.
As a parent it's hard to let go of the expectations you have for your children: the life they will live, the job they'll have, the person they'll partner with etc. As children we often forget that our parents have been shaped by a life and time that we have no knowledge of. So, it's easy for judgements to be created on both sides about how "wrong" the other side is. This story encourages us to explore, not only the relationships of the characters and their multiple perspectives on life, but to reflect on our own stories and the ways in which we hold grudges, lack empathy and often fail to love as a result of our lived experiences and learned behaviours.
"Don't cry for me" was almost therapeutic and as much as I think people across all intersections could benefit from reading it, I would argue that there is an especially healing aspect to this story for Black men and their, perhaps future, sons.
A lesson in self-awareness, forgiveness and love.
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I could have cried
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Daniel Black reads with such palpable reach.
Just moving...
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