Fire Shut Up in My Bones - Hardcover
A gorgeous, moving memoir of how one of America's most innovative and respected journalists found his voice by coming to terms with a painful past
New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow mines the compelling poetry of the out-of-time African-American Louisiana town where he grew up -- a place where slavery's legacy felt astonishingly close, reverberating in the elders' stories and in the near-constant wash of violence.
Blow's attachment to his mother -- a fiercely driven woman with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, a job plucking poultry at a nearby factory, a soon-to-be-ex husband, and a love of newspapers and learning -- cannot protect him from secret abuse at the hands of an older cousin. It's damage that triggers years of anger and searing self-questioning.
Finally, Blow escapes to a nearby state university, where he joins a black fraternity after a passage of brutal hazing, and then enters a world of racial and sexual privilege that feels like everything he's ever needed and wanted, until he's called upon, himself, to become the one perpetuating the shocking abuse.
A powerfully redemptive memoir that both fits the tradition of African-American storytelling from the South, and gives it an indelible new slant.
New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow mines the compelling poetry of the out-of-time African-American Louisiana town where he grew up -- a place where slavery's legacy felt astonishingly close, reverberating in the elders' stories and in the near-constant wash of violence.
Blow's attachment to his mother -- a fiercely driven woman with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, a job plucking poultry at a nearby factory, a soon-to-be-ex husband, and a love of newspapers and learning -- cannot protect him from secret abuse at the hands of an older cousin. It's damage that triggers years of anger and searing self-questioning.
Finally, Blow escapes to a nearby state university, where he joins a black fraternity after a passage of brutal hazing, and then enters a world of racial and sexual privilege that feels like everything he's ever needed and wanted, until he's called upon, himself, to become the one perpetuating the shocking abuse.
A powerfully redemptive memoir that both fits the tradition of African-American storytelling from the South, and gives it an indelible new slant.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description:
HMH hardcover, 2014, 978-0-544-22804-7
From the Author:
"This is a story that builds and overwhelms; it's filled with a gathering roar, like an oncoming hurricane [until] the tension explodes...and drops into a quiet sea of inner peace....The conflicts central to humanity are reconfigured here as fields of simple possibility: of compromise, of forgiveness, of eternal incompletion, of the fire unleashed at long last from our bones."--Sunday New York Times Book Review
"[An] Exquisite memoir...Delicately wrought and arresting in its language, this slender volume covers a great deal of emotional terrain -- much of it fraught, most of it arduous and all of it worth the trip."-The New York Times
"Searing and unforgettable."--People Magazine
"Blow tells his story with searing honesty and probing self-reflection..."--Boston Globe
"Honest and artful...Fire Shut Up in My Bones is an honest reflection of a life. Blow has taken the time to describe -- often in loving detail -- what people and places look like, giving the reader's visual imagination plenty to work with as he contemplates crucial life questions that this story so eloquently articulates."--Chicago Tribune
"A searing and evocative portrait of growing up black in the rural South...deserves a place on the shelf next to Richard Wright's classic memoir Black Boy."--Dallas Morning News
"Gorgeous words...akin to being wrapped in rich cashmere that softens a hit with a sledgehammer now and then. Look for this book -- not so much for the story (which is still really good), but for the lushness of its words. Then be prepared: Fire Shut Up in My Bones will leave you breathless."--Philadelphia Tribune
"Stunning...Blow's words grab hold of you like a fever that shakes you up at first but eventually leads you to a place of healing."--Essence
"Brilliant"--Ebony
"The most compelling read of the fall and the kind of book that will inspire you to turn off the TV and curl up in front of the fire instead." -- BET
"Charles Blow is the James Baldwin of our age."--Washington Blade
"Searing...A raw, intense and often powerful book"--Salon
"Unabashedly honest" -- Mother Jones
"Fire Shut Up in My Bones cloaks its gut-wrenching honesty in lyrical prose."--Goodreads
"Blow masterfully evokes the sights, sounds and smells of rough-and-tumble, backwater Louisiana...a well-written, often poetic memoir"--Kirkus
"Blow's genius lies in his ability to touch us, as the best writing always does."--The Root
"Fire Shut Up in My Bones is a remarkable twist on the classic rags-to-riches saga, written with considerable psychological insight and great honesty about the unhappy motivations that can lurk behind ambition."--Memphis Commercial Appeal
"Exquisitely written, and powerfully, painfully, and poignantly honest, the memoir is an illuminating, and, ultimately, uplifting account of poverty, spirituality, race and sexuality - and of the lies boys tell, to themselves and to others."--Florida Courier
"Ah -- the joy of beautiful writing -- of words strung like pearls on a silken thread, perfectly matched, each in its rightful place -- glowing with perfection. Such are those spread across the pages of this heart-breaking, uplifting memoir"--The Pilot
"... breathtaking, heartbreaking, and illuminating memoir..."--The Advocate
"Stunning, searing...introspective and poetic...an essential work of autobiography."--BookPage
"Ferocious...will leave a lasting impression on every reader that picks up this book...There's no greater urge for a writer than to write his or her own story, and Blow accomplishes that feat with heartbreaking beauty."--Writer's Bone
"Fire Shut In My Bones is a piece of modern literary art...eye opening and profoundly moving."--Southern Literary Review
"New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow has written what may be the memoir of the year (sorry, Amy Poehler)...This is a singular story, for certain, but it's also a resonate coming-of-age narrative and a stunning testimony on what life was to be young, lonely, and black in 1970s rural Louisiana."--A.V. Club
"This audiobook is a welcome exception to light, and overly hopeful, memoirs. The author...is unsparing in his truthfulness and emotion...The importance of the book is that it's Blow's story, and he makes it sound personal. He creates a vivid world that is captivating and absorbing."--AudioFile Magazine
"Passionately written"--Culture Vulture
"Poetic..."--Scribd
"A powerful memoir"--Nick Kristof
"Beautiful work!"--John Legend
"So incredible, so poignant, so powerful, so inspirational and it's a really phenomenal read."--Solange Knowles
"Powerful...Charles Blow sculpted the prose of every paragraph with human poetry... That's how beautiful his memoir sings"--Mara Brock Akil
"A breathtaking piece of writing."--Andy Rosenthal
"An instant classic"--Marc Lamont Hill
"This gorgeously written book damn near broke my heart. I cried several times. Love love love it."--Capricious Reader
LISTS:
100 Notable Books 0f 2014---New York Times Sunday Book Review
New York Times Best Sellers (Monthly lists: Relationship, Family, and Race/Civil Rights)
New York Times Sunday Book Review Editors' Choice
Best Books of 2014 (Nonfiction)--Publishers Weekly
Our Favorite Books of the Year/Best of 2014--A.V. Club
2014 Best Books of the Year--Shelf Awareness
The 19 Best Nonfiction Books of 2014--BuzzFeed
The 25 Best Book Titles of 2014--BookPage
The Best 15 Nonfiction Books by Black Authors in 2014--The Root
Best of 2014--Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
"Favorite books," 2014 Holiday Newsletter--Politics & Prose
Top 10 Books of the Fall, 2014--New York Observer
Top Picks in Biography, Fall 2014--Barnes & Noble
Lettres October 2014 Readers' Prize book--Elle Magazine
Power List-Fall 2014--African-American Literary Book Club
Notable African-American-Interest Titles, Fall 2014-Spring 2015--Publishers Weekly
Five Books to Watch for in September, 2014--BookRiot.com
5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar, September 2014--WritersBone.com
November 2014 Indie Next List--IndieBound
African American Lives: Books for February, Black History Month--Library Journal
"Some of Our Favorite Titles of 2014"--Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Holiday Reads, 2014--Harvard Book Store with 826 Boston
Best Books of 2014--Berkeleyside
Best Books of 2014--Mosaic literary magazine
Top 10 Books of 2014--Outlandic
The Top Ten Best Nonfiction Books of 2014--Entertainment Monthly, Emerson University
Pierce County Library's Best Books of 2014--Bonnie Lake Courier-Herald, Washington
Scene Reviewers Favorite Books of 2014 (Noted With Pleasure)--Nashville Scene
"Good Reads That Make Great Gifts"--L Style G Style Holiday Guide, 2014
"Top 100 Books of 2014"--Conversations Book Club
"15 books we can't wait to read in 2015"--The American Library in Paris
Best of 2014, Nonfiction--Detroit Public Library, 2015 Booklist
Self-Renewal & Youth Development Reading list--John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, Stanford Graduate School of Education
18 Must-Read LGBT Books We Missed Last Year--The Advocate, April 2015
"These Queer Black Writers Deserve Your Attention"--Queerty
New and Noteworthy, April 2015--Scribd
Your 2015 Summer Impact Reading List - Net Impact
Honoring Black Writers: 25 Books For Your Summer Reading, 2015 - The Grio
16 books For the Perfect Southern Summer Reading List, 2015 -- AL.com (Alabama Media Group)
22 Books by Black Authors to Add to Your Beach Bag This Summer--Blavity
Pride Month Reading List, 2015--National Book Foundation
Progressive Pick -- Truthout.org
AWARDS:
WINNER: Lambda Literary Award--Bisexual Nonfiction, 2015
WINNER: Ann M. Sperber Biography Award--Best biography/memoir of a journalist, 2015
WINNER: African-American Literary Awards Show--Best biography/memoir, 2015
FINALIST: Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award --Nonfiction, 2015
Bisexual Book Awards Finalist--Bisexual Nonfiction, Bisexual Memoir/Biography and Bi Writer of the Year, 2015
PEN Literary Awards Longlist--Open Book Award, 2015
"[An] Exquisite memoir...Delicately wrought and arresting in its language, this slender volume covers a great deal of emotional terrain -- much of it fraught, most of it arduous and all of it worth the trip."-The New York Times
"Searing and unforgettable."--People Magazine
"Blow tells his story with searing honesty and probing self-reflection..."--Boston Globe
"Honest and artful...Fire Shut Up in My Bones is an honest reflection of a life. Blow has taken the time to describe -- often in loving detail -- what people and places look like, giving the reader's visual imagination plenty to work with as he contemplates crucial life questions that this story so eloquently articulates."--Chicago Tribune
"A searing and evocative portrait of growing up black in the rural South...deserves a place on the shelf next to Richard Wright's classic memoir Black Boy."--Dallas Morning News
"Gorgeous words...akin to being wrapped in rich cashmere that softens a hit with a sledgehammer now and then. Look for this book -- not so much for the story (which is still really good), but for the lushness of its words. Then be prepared: Fire Shut Up in My Bones will leave you breathless."--Philadelphia Tribune
"Stunning...Blow's words grab hold of you like a fever that shakes you up at first but eventually leads you to a place of healing."--Essence
"Brilliant"--Ebony
"The most compelling read of the fall and the kind of book that will inspire you to turn off the TV and curl up in front of the fire instead." -- BET
"Charles Blow is the James Baldwin of our age."--Washington Blade
"Searing...A raw, intense and often powerful book"--Salon
"Unabashedly honest" -- Mother Jones
"Fire Shut Up in My Bones cloaks its gut-wrenching honesty in lyrical prose."--Goodreads
"Blow masterfully evokes the sights, sounds and smells of rough-and-tumble, backwater Louisiana...a well-written, often poetic memoir"--Kirkus
"Blow's genius lies in his ability to touch us, as the best writing always does."--The Root
"Fire Shut Up in My Bones is a remarkable twist on the classic rags-to-riches saga, written with considerable psychological insight and great honesty about the unhappy motivations that can lurk behind ambition."--Memphis Commercial Appeal
"Exquisitely written, and powerfully, painfully, and poignantly honest, the memoir is an illuminating, and, ultimately, uplifting account of poverty, spirituality, race and sexuality - and of the lies boys tell, to themselves and to others."--Florida Courier
"Ah -- the joy of beautiful writing -- of words strung like pearls on a silken thread, perfectly matched, each in its rightful place -- glowing with perfection. Such are those spread across the pages of this heart-breaking, uplifting memoir"--The Pilot
"... breathtaking, heartbreaking, and illuminating memoir..."--The Advocate
"Stunning, searing...introspective and poetic...an essential work of autobiography."--BookPage
"Ferocious...will leave a lasting impression on every reader that picks up this book...There's no greater urge for a writer than to write his or her own story, and Blow accomplishes that feat with heartbreaking beauty."--Writer's Bone
"Fire Shut In My Bones is a piece of modern literary art...eye opening and profoundly moving."--Southern Literary Review
"New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow has written what may be the memoir of the year (sorry, Amy Poehler)...This is a singular story, for certain, but it's also a resonate coming-of-age narrative and a stunning testimony on what life was to be young, lonely, and black in 1970s rural Louisiana."--A.V. Club
"This audiobook is a welcome exception to light, and overly hopeful, memoirs. The author...is unsparing in his truthfulness and emotion...The importance of the book is that it's Blow's story, and he makes it sound personal. He creates a vivid world that is captivating and absorbing."--AudioFile Magazine
"Passionately written"--Culture Vulture
"Poetic..."--Scribd
"A powerful memoir"--Nick Kristof
"Beautiful work!"--John Legend
"So incredible, so poignant, so powerful, so inspirational and it's a really phenomenal read."--Solange Knowles
"Powerful...Charles Blow sculpted the prose of every paragraph with human poetry... That's how beautiful his memoir sings"--Mara Brock Akil
"A breathtaking piece of writing."--Andy Rosenthal
"An instant classic"--Marc Lamont Hill
"This gorgeously written book damn near broke my heart. I cried several times. Love love love it."--Capricious Reader
LISTS:
100 Notable Books 0f 2014---New York Times Sunday Book Review
New York Times Best Sellers (Monthly lists: Relationship, Family, and Race/Civil Rights)
New York Times Sunday Book Review Editors' Choice
Best Books of 2014 (Nonfiction)--Publishers Weekly
Our Favorite Books of the Year/Best of 2014--A.V. Club
2014 Best Books of the Year--Shelf Awareness
The 19 Best Nonfiction Books of 2014--BuzzFeed
The 25 Best Book Titles of 2014--BookPage
The Best 15 Nonfiction Books by Black Authors in 2014--The Root
Best of 2014--Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
"Favorite books," 2014 Holiday Newsletter--Politics & Prose
Top 10 Books of the Fall, 2014--New York Observer
Top Picks in Biography, Fall 2014--Barnes & Noble
Lettres October 2014 Readers' Prize book--Elle Magazine
Power List-Fall 2014--African-American Literary Book Club
Notable African-American-Interest Titles, Fall 2014-Spring 2015--Publishers Weekly
Five Books to Watch for in September, 2014--BookRiot.com
5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar, September 2014--WritersBone.com
November 2014 Indie Next List--IndieBound
African American Lives: Books for February, Black History Month--Library Journal
"Some of Our Favorite Titles of 2014"--Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Holiday Reads, 2014--Harvard Book Store with 826 Boston
Best Books of 2014--Berkeleyside
Best Books of 2014--Mosaic literary magazine
Top 10 Books of 2014--Outlandic
The Top Ten Best Nonfiction Books of 2014--Entertainment Monthly, Emerson University
Pierce County Library's Best Books of 2014--Bonnie Lake Courier-Herald, Washington
Scene Reviewers Favorite Books of 2014 (Noted With Pleasure)--Nashville Scene
"Good Reads That Make Great Gifts"--L Style G Style Holiday Guide, 2014
"Top 100 Books of 2014"--Conversations Book Club
"15 books we can't wait to read in 2015"--The American Library in Paris
Best of 2014, Nonfiction--Detroit Public Library, 2015 Booklist
Self-Renewal & Youth Development Reading list--John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, Stanford Graduate School of Education
18 Must-Read LGBT Books We Missed Last Year--The Advocate, April 2015
"These Queer Black Writers Deserve Your Attention"--Queerty
New and Noteworthy, April 2015--Scribd
Your 2015 Summer Impact Reading List - Net Impact
Honoring Black Writers: 25 Books For Your Summer Reading, 2015 - The Grio
16 books For the Perfect Southern Summer Reading List, 2015 -- AL.com (Alabama Media Group)
22 Books by Black Authors to Add to Your Beach Bag This Summer--Blavity
Pride Month Reading List, 2015--National Book Foundation
Progressive Pick -- Truthout.org
AWARDS:
WINNER: Lambda Literary Award--Bisexual Nonfiction, 2015
WINNER: Ann M. Sperber Biography Award--Best biography/memoir of a journalist, 2015
WINNER: African-American Literary Awards Show--Best biography/memoir, 2015
FINALIST: Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award --Nonfiction, 2015
Bisexual Book Awards Finalist--Bisexual Nonfiction, Bisexual Memoir/Biography and Bi Writer of the Year, 2015
PEN Literary Awards Longlist--Open Book Award, 2015
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- PublisherHoughton Mifflin Harcourt
- Publication date2014
- ISBN 10 0544228049
- ISBN 13 9780544228047
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages240
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