Hold Love Strong: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

Born to a thirteen-year-old in the bathroom of his familys small apartment, Abraham Singleton enters a world laden with the obstacles inherent in an impoverished urban community. But when his mother becomes addicted to crack and his unclethe familys basketball prodigy and their potential ticket out of povertyis arrested and convicted, the last glimmer of hope is extinguished. Then a college scholarship offers Abraham a way out, but what of those he will leave behind Tossed into tumultuous times, Abraham and his family struggle to overcome their grim environment and the crushing weight of the past. .

In the vein of Richard Wrights Native Son , this novel is a wake-up call to America told exceptionally well in the lyrical first person voice of a sensitive and perceptive youth ( Booklist ). A spellbinding coming-of-age novel about love, hope, and the will to survive, Hold Love Strong is a revealing look inside the nations crumbling housing projects, and a universal story about the incredible capacity of the human spirit..

Reviews

"A powerful and poignant story of the gallant Abraham who struggles on the night side of American society yet exudes a light of genuine hope." -- Dr. Cornel West
"The urgency of reading Matthew Aaron Goodman's work is that he complicates what is too often made unrealistically simple: our understanding of ourselves and our neighbors. That he does so with such profound beauty only makes the experience of Hold Love Strong ever more incredible. Everyone should pick up this book." -- asha bandele, author of Something Like Beautiful
"Matthew Aaron Goodman writes with tremendous heart and gorgeous lyricism....This story feels like a directive to its readers: Hold fast and true to the love you may know in this life. It takes an extraordinary writer to evoke such powerful emotion in a reader, and Matthew Aaron Goodman does it here with wisdom and grace." -- Thisbe Nissen, author of The Good People of New York
"At once intimate and epic, Hold Love Strong shines light on a world too often distorted or ignored. Goodman plumbs us into a narrative of devastating pain and searing tenderness, and he does so fiercely, with prose as bright and sharp as a blade." -- Carolina De Robertis, author of Invisible Mountain>
"What a poignant book. The younger generation offers a wonderful writer!" -- Nikki Giovanni, Poet

Author Bio

Matthew Goodman earned a B.A. degree in literature from Brandeis University and an MFA from Emerson College. He has been a student of writing at the 92nd Street Y, Breadloaf Writers Conference, and the Vermont Studio Center, and has taught and worked in inner-city communities for years. Working hand-in-hand with formerly incarcerated men and women, he created The Leadership Alliance, a community empowerment project that unites community leaders and volunteer partners. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, New York.