What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

Author: Zinzi Clemmons

Genre: Contemporary, Literary Fiction

Synopsis:

From an author of rare, haunting power, a stunning novel about a young African-American woman coming of age—a deeply felt meditation on race, sex, family, and country 

Raised in Pennsylvania, Thandi views the world of her mother’s childhood in Johannesburg as both impossibly distant and ever present. She is an outsider wherever she goes, caught between being black and white, American and not. She tries to connect these dislocated pieces of her life, and as her mother succumbs to cancer, Thandi searches for an anchor—someone, or something, to love.

In arresting and unsettling prose, we watch Thandi’s life unfold, from losing her mother and learning to live without the person who has most profoundly shaped her existence, to her own encounters with romance and unexpected motherhood. Through exquisite and emotional vignettes, Clemmons creates a stunning portrayal of what it means to choose to live, after loss. An elegiac distillation, at once intellectual and visceral, of a young woman’s understanding of absence and identity that spans continents and decades,  What We Lose  heralds the arrival of a virtuosic new voice in fiction.

Format: Paperback, 224 pages

Awards: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Novel (2018), Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction (2018), Goodreads Choice Award for Debut Goodreads Author (2017), Aspen Words Literary Prize for Shortlist (2018)

Goodreads Rating: 3.60

*This book is pre-loved, but has been carefully looked through to ensure it is not missing any pages and is in good condition. All visible flaws have been documented in the product photos.