What We Lose
(Paperback)
Available Formats
Publishing Details
What We Lose
By (Author) Zinzi Clemmons
HarperCollins Publishers
Fourth Estate Ltd
3rd March 2018
8th February 2018
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Fiction
Family life fiction / Stories about family
Narrative theme: death, grief, loss
Narrative theme: identity / belonging
Narrative theme: health and illness
813.6
Physical Properties
Paperback
224
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 16mm
220g
Description
A short, intense and profoundly moving debut novel about race, identity, sex and death from one of the National Book Foundations 5 Under 35
Thandi is a black woman, but often mistaken for Hispanic or Asian.
She is American, but doesnt feel as American as some of her friends.
She is South African, but doesnt belong in South Africa either.
Her mother is dying.
Reviews
The debut novel of the year visceral, cerebral, provocative, elegiac. One cant help but think of Clemmons as in the running to be the next-generation Claudia Rankine Vogue
Luminescent Independent
A lovely little headrush of a novel if you enjoyed Yaa Gyasis Homegoing then try this Sunday Times Style
Bracingly clear-eyed the tension between her steady prose and turbulent emotions is beautifully sustained Daily Mail
Highly original. Zinzi Clemmons deftly explores grief, sex and identity Elle
Concise and powerful. This original and challenging debut is a must-read for fans of literary fiction and memoir Bookriot
Penetratingly good and written in vivid still life, What We Lose reads like a guided tour through a melancholic Van Gogh exhibit wonderfully chromatic, transfixing and bursting with emotion. Zinzi Clemmonss debut novel signals the emergence of a voice that refuses to be ignored Paul Beatty
What We Lose navigates the many registers of grief, love and injustice . . . acutely moving Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland
'I loved this beautiful, honest and entrancing meditation on love, loss and the relationships that enrich and complicate our lives Bernardine Evaristo
Author Bio
Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. Her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, the Paris Review Daily, Transition and elsewhere. She is a cofounder and former publisher of Apogee Journal and a contributing editor to Literary Hub. Clemmons lives in Los Angeles and teaches at the Colburn Conservatory and Occidental College.
