Witness stories

"In these ten stories, each set in the changing landscapes of contemporary New York City, a range of characters--from children to grandmothers to ghosts--live through the responsibility of perceiving and the moral challenge of speaking up or taking action. Though they strive to connect, to reme...

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Main Author: Brinkley, Jamel (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023.
Edition: First edition.
Subjects:
Summary: "In these ten stories, each set in the changing landscapes of contemporary New York City, a range of characters--from children to grandmothers to ghosts--live through the responsibility of perceiving and the moral challenge of speaking up or taking action. Though they strive to connect, to remember, to stand up for, and to really see each other, they often fall short, and the structures they build around these ambitions and failures shape not only their own futures but the legacies and prospects of their families and their city. In its portraits of families and friendships lost and found, the paradox of intimacy, the long shadow of grief, the meaning of home, Witness enacts its own testimony. Here is a world where fortunes can be made and stolen in just a few generations, where strangers might sometimes show kindness while those we trust--doctors, employers, siblings--too often turn away, where joy comes in snatches: flowers on a windowsill, dancing in the street, glimpsing your purpose, change on the horizon"--Dust jacket flap.
Physical Description: 226 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN: 9780374607036
0374607036
Author Notes: Jamel Brinkley is the author of A Lucky Man , which won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the John Leonard Prize, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. His work has appeared in The Paris Review , A Public Space , Ploughshares , and The Best American Short Stories . He was raised in the Bronx and Brooklyn and currently teaches at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.