How Are You Going to Save Yourself by J M Holmes

How Are You Going to Save Yourself

J M Holmes

Young men growing up in the 'hood, looking for ways to improve themselves, ways to get out. Gio manages it, possibly because he is mixed race. But the 'hood stays with him in lots of ways and some of them are not very pleasant. Lives change, friendships are tested, things go wrong. This book is funny and disturbing and speaks of an experience that those of us who are not black will never have to endure.

Extract
Dreads came forward next, took off his sunglasses to show sunken, red-rimmed eyes. His blond-brown dreads looked well-kept. Even in the dim yellow glow of the RV, I could tell his eyes were light enough to change in the sun. Our complexion always needs the sun - it eliminates questions. My stomach sank.
'Two thousand is a lot,' he said. He stressed the words like he had come to terms with the King's English.
Isaac grinned and Dubs smirked, getting excited.
'Not for you,' Isaac said.
Parallels
  • Young Blood by Sifiso Mzobe
  • Shop Front by Samuel Best
  • Why we took the car by Wolfgang Herrndorf
Borrow this book
Violence
Explicit sexual content