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If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery - 4.5* - My Review

Born in America, Trelawny is the son of Jamaican immigrant parents. His older brother, Delano, is his father’s favorite. Trelawny starts out at age nine, in 1992, in South Miami. His family’s home is destroyed in Hurricane Andrew. When his parent divorce, Trelawny lives with his mother and Delano stays with his father. Trelawny is a bookish kid. He gets a scholarship to a northern midwestern college, but he graduates at the apex of the recession of 2008 and there are no jobs to be found. The narrative follows his life over the course of two decades.

This book packs an emotional punch. It focuses on the Jamaican American experience, and the depiction of race in America is spot on. The American tendency to “define” someone by a single term is parodied to humorous (but sad) effect. Trelawny’s mixed ethnicities lead him to be variously labeled as Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, and black. He tries to fit in but still feels like an outsider.

It is told in a series of short stories, which easily flow together to form a novel. The first story in the book is one of the best I have read. Another set of striking stories is that of Trelawny’s cousin, Cukie, meeting his father for the first time and finding out exactly what kind of man abandons his child. This book covers a lot of ground – dysfunctional families, father-son dynamics, abandonment, race, class, financial struggles, underemployment, and identity. I am impressed by this author, especially considering this book is his debut.

I listened to the audio book, which is brilliantly narrated by Torian Brackett. I feel like audio is the way to go. It definitely helped with the single chapter told in Jamaican patois by Trelawny’s father. I will keep an eye out for future works by Jonathan Escoffery.

4.5