Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family - Hardcover

Jackson, Mitchell S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0349701334 ISBN 13: 9780349701332

Publisher: Dialogue Books, 2019

Synopsis

'A mesmerising book, full of story, truth, pain, lyricism, humour and astonishment: the stuff of a difficult life, fully lived, and masterfully transformed into art' SALMAN RUSHDIE

'Intimate and wise, poignant and compassionate, redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book' CHERYL STRAYED, author of Wild

An electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations that award-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson made to survive the Portland, Oregon, of his youth.

This dynamic book explores gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of 'hustle' and the destructive power of addiction - all framed within the story of Jackson, his family and his community.

Mitchell S. Jackson presents a microcosm of struggle and survival in contemporary urban America - an exploration of the forces that shaped his life, his city, and the lives of so many black men like him. As Jackson charts his own path from drug dealer to published novelist, he gives us a heartbreaking, fascinating, lovingly rendered view of the injustices and victories, large and small, that defined his youth.

'Jackson's mesmerizing voice and style draws you into the survival calculations for millions of American kids and families, revealing a need-to-know reality for all of us' PIPER KERMAN, Author of Orange is the New Black

'Jackson's musings skillfully illuminate the bloodlines, both inherited and earned, that pulse through the body of America's gang-graffitied carceral state' TYEHIMBA JESS, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olio

About this title

About the Author

Mitchell S. Jackson was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He holds a masters in writing from Portland State University and an MFA from New York University. Jackson has received a Whiting Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. The Residue Years was also a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize and the Hurston Wright Legacy Award. Jackson has been awarded fellowships from TED, the Lannan Foundation and the Centre for Fiction. He teaches writing at NYU and Columbia.

From the Back Cover

'This is a mesmerising book, full of story, truth, pain, lyricism, humour and astonishment: the stuff of a difficult life, fully lived, and masterfully transformed into art' Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses

'Survival Math tells the story of a young man and a way of life lived against staggering odds; Mitchell Jackson shows us his youth in Portland with an unforgettable mix of sharp humour, wide interrogation and indelible tragedy' Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black

'Mitchell S. Jackson's insights into how black men survive become insights of everyone's survival' Terrance Hayes, author of To Float in the Space Between

'I had the feeling while reading Survival Math that I'd never read anything quite like it before. It's intimate and wise, poignant and compassionate, redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book' Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild

'Relentlessly clear-eyed and virtuosic, Survival Math offers revelation after revelation; in the end, it remakes our understanding of the world and those in it' Jesmyn Ward, author of Sing, Unburied, Sing

'Mitchell Jackson's Survival Math is riveted by his exacting and tender calculus of each subject's depth and humanity. Each hustle, dodge and scramble we witness in these pages is anchored in the turbulent sea of American history. Jackson's musings skilfully illuminate the bloodlines, both inherited and earned, that pulse through the body of America's gang-graffitied carceral state' Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olio

From the Inside Flap

An electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations that award-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson made to survive the Portland, Oregon, of his youth. This dynamic book explores gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of 'hustle' and the destructive power of addiction - all framed within the story of Jackson, his family and his community.

Lauded for its breathtaking pace, its tender portrayals, its stark candour and its luminous style, Survival Math reveals on every page the searching intellect and originality of its author. The primary narrative, focused on understanding the antecedents of Jackson's family's experiences, is complemented by poems composed from historical American documents as well as survivor files, which feature photographs and riveting short narratives of several of Jackson's male relatives. The sum of Survival Math's parts is a highly original whole, one that reflects on the exigencies - over generations - that have shaped the lives of so many disenfranchised Americans. As essential as it is beautiful, as real as it is artful, Mitchell S. Jackson's non-fiction debut is a singular achievement, not to be missed.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dialogue Books
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0349701334
• ISBN 13: 9780349701332
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336