Comment

Jan 31, 2018
" I know now that what is tragic isn't the moment. It is the memory." Reading "Another Brooklyn" has that fleeting quality of wonder, concern, and intimacy, you might feel when protectively holding a stunned bird in your cupped hands as its heart beats wildly, reverberating throughout your whole body, before it bursts into flight and freedom, leaving you a breathless observer of a brief moment in time. This lyrical novella will appeal to a reader who loves experiencing a book as more than a story, as its writing is poetic and reflective, a meditation almost. Indeed, some may find the book frustrating as it only offers a brief, free-form, glimpse into the tender and immediate thoughts of a young woman of color and her friends as they navigate the world of "girl" in 1970s Bushwick. I found the book to be quite affecting, leaving me with a sense of gratitude for such an intimate portrait of becoming a woman, forged somewhere between the crush of the world and the embrace of those who love you. The tragedy may indeed be in the memory, not the moment, but so is the healing as we look back and come to understand ourselves more fully through our own stories, our own words.