Audio only
Length5h 31m
About this audiobook
The astonishing journey of a bright, utterly displaced boy, from the short-lived African nation of Biafra, to Jamaica, to the harshest streets of Los Angeles—a searing memoir that adds fascinating depth to the coming-to-America story
The first time Chude-Sokei realizes that he is “first son of the first son” of a renowned leader of the bygone African nation is in Uncle Daddy and Big Auntie’s strict religious household in Jamaica, where he lives with other abandoned children. A visiting African has just fallen to his knees to shake him by the shoulders: “Is this the boy? Is this him?”
Chude-Sokei’s immersion in the politics of race and belonging across the landscape of the African diaspora takes a turn when his traumatized mother, who has her own extraordinary history as the onetime “Jackie O of Biafra,” finally sends for him to come live with her. In Inglewood, Los Angeles, on the eve of gangsta rap and the LA riots, it’s as if he’s fallen to Earth. In this world, anything alien—definitely Chude-Sokei’s secret obsession with science fiction and David Bowie—is a danger, and his yearning to become a Black American gets deeply, sometimes absurdly, complicated. Ultimately, it is a boisterous pan-African family of honorary aunts, uncles, and cousins that becomes his secret society, teaching him the redemptive skill of navigating not just Blackness, but Blacknesses, in his America.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.0 (653)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, LibraryThing
GenreBiography and Memoir, Psychology
Length5 hrs 31 mins
Narrated byLouis Chude-Sokei
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateFeb 2, 2021
LanguageEnglish
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
My Bondage and My Freedom (Annotated)Frederick Douglass15h 30m4.6 (2.4K)$2 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
What to Make of a LifeJim Collins13h 31m4.4 (794)$33 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m4.6 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
Saint Joan (Annotated)George Bernard Shaw6h 20m4.6 (1.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m4.6 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Mis-Education of the NegroCarter Godwin Woodson5h 4m4.5 (29.4K)$1.20 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 22m4.6 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge5h 59m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m4.6 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m4.6 (503)$29 · $0.00
Disturbed in Their NestsAlephonsion Deng, Judy A. Bernstein11h 22m4.6 (595)$23 · $0.00
No Name in the StreetJames Baldwin5h4.5 (8.5K)$20 · $0.00
Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass4h 13m4.5 (309.9K)$1.20 · $0.00
Magic SeasonWade Rouse6h 41m4.6 (855)$24 · $0.00
Consent Laid BareChanel Contos7h 11m4.5 (1.7K)$24 · $0.00
The Big RevealSasha Velour6h 15m4.5 (2.1K)$24 · $0.00
EssaysGeorge Orwell26h 38m4.5 (8.4K)$4 · $0.00
You may also like
In the Presence of GreatnessPatty Duke, William J. Jankowski9h 55m4.2 (539)$20
A Personal OdysseyThomas Sowell10h 56m4.5 (2.7K)$21
StuffedPatricia Volk7h 50m3.6 (1.8K)$17 · $0.00
As We ExistKaoutar Harchi3h 16m4.1 (563)$15
The Brightest StarGail Tsukiyama9h 31m3.5 (1.5K)$29 · $0.00
This Is One Way to DanceSejal Shah4h 53m4.1 (685)$15
Cher: Part OneCher15h 47m4.4 (41.4K)$33 · $0.00
True Stories from an Unreliable EyewitnessChristine Lahti5h 30m4.1 (427)$24 · $0.00
Big LoveBrooke Blurton7h 21m4.3 (943)$24 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Greetings from Utopia ParkClaire Hoffman8h 1m3.8 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
A Song Called HomeSara Zarr7h 37m4.1 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
Which Side Are You OnRyan Lee Wong5h 39m3.7 (1.7K)$17
The Partition ProjectSaadia Faruqi10h 1m4.3 (810)$29 · $0.00
Unfinished BusinessVivian Gornick4h 28m3.8 (1.6K)$15 · $0.00
MisophoniaDana Vowinckel11h 17m4.2 (3.2K)$29 · $0.00
The Writer's LibraryNancy Pearl, Jeff Schwager11h 22m4.0 (1.7K)$29 · $0.00
Darling DaysiO Tillett Wright10h 45m4.3 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
Before I was a Critic I was a Human BeingAmy Fung4h 40m4.2 (259)$24 · $0.00
Ruby Lost and FoundChristina Li7h 6m4.3 (1.1K)$24 · $0.00