Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family
Written by Mitchell Jackson
Narrated by Mitchell Jackson
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019
ONE OF BUZZFEED’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019
An electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the national conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations 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 candor, 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 experience, 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 nonfiction debut is a singular achievement, not to be missed.
Mitchell Jackson
Mitchell S. Jackson’s debut novel won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. His honors include a Whiting Award and fellowships from the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, TED, the Lannan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, PEN, NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts), and the Center for Fiction. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, The Guardian, and elsewhere. The author of Survival Math, he is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Chicago.
Related to Survival Math
Related audiobooks
Show Them You're Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAftershocks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Can't Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fire Shut Up In My Bones: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heavy: An American Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Second Chance Club: Hardship and Hope After Prison Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings in Chicago's South Side Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invisible Man Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man's Education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heads of the Colored People: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Vanishing Country: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Greyboy: Finding Blackness in a White World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America's Urban Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Down: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Love Prison Made and Unmade: My Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5America Made Me a Black Man: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How We Fight For Our Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Undocumented: A Worker's Fight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLong Division Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Stay Married Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angela's Ashes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Choice: Escaping the Past and Embracing the Possible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Survival Math
13 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In a more accurate rating system I would give this 3.5 stars. With the 1-5 system, it is closer to a 4 than a 3.
I picked the physical up on Book Outlet where I only buy clearance (Less than $2), and the audio on Scribd. The book has pictures.
The author is real. He talks about his life, the choices he made and where they led him. Also, the book gives survivor files. They are pertinent. I am saving the book and am quietly going to reread those sections.
I would have liked a different narrator. The author who narrated this has a monotone voice, and I wished several times throughout that he used a professional narrator/performer.