In the country of women : a memoir
(Book)

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Published
New York : Catapult, [2019].
Format
Book
Physical Desc
xviii, 363 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Status
Main Library - Adult
BIO STRAIGHT
1 available
Oliver La Farge - Adult
BIO STRAIGHT
1 available
Southside - Adult
BIO STRAIGHT
1 available

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LocationCall NumberStatus
Main Library - AdultBIO STRAIGHTOn Shelf
Oliver La Farge - AdultBIO STRAIGHTOn Shelf
Southside - AdultBIO STRAIGHTOn Shelf

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Published
New York : Catapult, [2019].
Language
English
Lexile measure
1030

Notes

Description
"In inland Southern California, near the desert and the Mexican border, Susan Straight, a self-proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African American basketball player, started dating in high school. After college, they married and drove to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Straight met her teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write. Once back in Riverside, at driveway barbecues and fish fries with the large, close-knit Sims family, Straight -- and eventually her three daughters -- heard for decades the stories of Dwayne's female ancestors. Some women escaped violence in post-slavery Tennessee, some escaped murder in Jim Crow Mississippi, and some fled abusive men. Straight's mother-in-law, Alberta Sims, is the descendant at the heart of this memoir. Susan's family, too, reflects the hardship and resilience of women pushing onward -- from Switzerland, Canada, and the Colorado Rockies to California. A Pakistani word, biraderi, is one Straight uses to define a complex system of kinship and clan -- those who become your family. An entire community helped raise her daughters. Of her three girls, now grown and working in museums and the entertainment industry, Straight writes, "The daughters of our ancestors carry in their blood at least three continents. We are not about borders. We are about love and survival." In the Country of Women is a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and indomitable women." -- from Jacket.
Description
Straight, a self-proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African American basketball player, started dating in high school. After college they married. In Amherst, Massachusetts, Straight met her teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write. Both the Straight and the Sims families were filled with stories of the hardship and resilience of women pushing onward; their three daughters "carry in their blood at least three continents." Straight's memoir is both a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and indomitable women. -- adapted from jacket
Target Audience
1030L,Lexile

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