Kid - Softcover

Sapphire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 2879298695 ISBN 13: 9782879298696

Publisher: Editions de l'Olivier, 2014

Synopsis

Fifteen years after the publication of Push, Sapphire gives voice to Abdul Jones, the son of her unforgettable heroine, Precious.

The Kid is an electrifying story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, bringing us deep into the interior life of Abdul. We meet him at age nine, on the day of his mother's funeral. Left alone to navigate in a world where love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind.

In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday; from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a twenty-first-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit, the deep nourishing power of love, and of art, The Kid becomes a young man about to take flight. Intimate, terrifying and deeply alive, Abdul's journey bears witness to an artist's birth by fire.

About this title

Review:

Painstakingly beautiful (Scotland on Sunday)

Sapphire is not your average writer. Brave, bold and uncompromising . . . The novel keeps you on tenterhooks (Bernardine Evaristo Observer)

Harrowing . . . Masterfully narrated . . . Powerful (Diva)

Stunning . . . Exhilarating (Independent)

Prepare to be harrowed; I was sobbing by the end of the first chapter . . . [Sapphire] writes with a burning anger that gives this novel an explosive power (The Times)

A consummate work of art, style and brains, shining at times with the possibility for hope and joy . . . More accomplished than [Push] and a thousand times more frightening (List)

From the Back Cover:

'Hardcore. Brave, bold, uncompromising. The breathtaking velocity and visceral power of Sapphire's prose soars off the page' Observer

Abdul Jones is nine years old when his mother Precious dies. Parentless, he is sent first to a foster home and then to a Catholic orphanage. But the priests charged to care for him abuse his trust terribly.

And Abdul, a victim, finds that he reacts in the most frightening way imaginable. Soon he is trapped in a dark cycle of sexual violence and betrayal. Yet through dance, in controlling his body, he discovers a way he might somehow break free and become himself . . .

A harrowing and powerful novel set in New York, The Kid is a portrait of a boy forced to grow up in a cruel and callous world.

'A fearless writer and thinker of enormous talent, insight and skill. Abdul's story is frighteningly realistic. A consummate work of art, style and brains. Full of the energy of pain, rage, grief and doubt' List

'Devastating. An accomplished work of art . . . hard to forget' Los Angeles Times

'Exhilarating' Independent

'Urgent, troubling, harrowing, masterfully narrated, powerful' Diva

'Unflinching' Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Editions de l'Olivier
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 2879298695
• ISBN 13: 9782879298696
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464