'So beautifully written, so insightful, so thoughtful, so honest, so vulnerable, so intimate ... A gift' JESMYN WARD 'Wow. Just wow' ROXANE GAY 'Unflinchingly honest' RENI EDDO-LODGE 'An act of truth-telling unlike any other I can think of' ALEXANDER CHEE A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR The story of the black male experience in America you've never read before Kiese Laymon grew up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to his career as a young college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, abuse, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing and ultimately gambling. In Heavy , by attempting to name secrets and lies that he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, Laymon