![]() ![]() Instead, he turns his grief and rage on himself, using food to force down his feelings. Laymon can’t talk about any of this with his mother. His mother’s on-again, off-again boyfriend is violent, too. ![]() At home and at neighbors’ houses, Laymon experiences and witnesses sexual violence: a babysitter abuses him, and he sees older boys raping girls and younger boys. Laymon begins his story in Jackson, Mississippi, where he spent most of his childhood. Their complicated relationship, and the lies they have to tell to get through their lives, underpin Laymon’s memoir. ![]() Laymon’s mother was a brilliant and dedicated professor who encouraged Laymon to read and write, but often beat him and leaned on him for emotional support a child could not provide. That “you” turns out to be Laymon’s mother, and the rest of the book is addressed to her. Laymon says in his book’s first pages that he will not write the palatable, uplifting “American memoir” that an unnamed “you” wants him to write. ![]()
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