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The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir Audiobook
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Publisher Description
FINALIST FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
An engrossing memoir of escaping the First Liberian Civil War and building a life in the United States
When Wayétu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in faraway New York. Before she gets the reunion her father promised her, war breaks out in Liberia. The family is forced to flee their home on foot, walking and hiding for three weeks until they arrive in the village of Lai. Finally, a rebel soldier smuggles them across the border to Sierra Leone, reuniting the family and setting them off on yet another journey, this time to the United States.
Spanning this harrowing journey in Moore’s early childhood, her years adjusting to life in Texas as a black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is a deeply moving story of the search for home in the midst of upheaval. Moore has a novelist’s eye for suspense and emotional depth, and this unforgettable memoir is full of imaginative, lyrical flights and lush prose. In capturing both the hazy magic and the stark realities of what is becoming an increasingly pervasive experience, Moore shines a light on the great political and personal forces that continue to affect many migrants around the world, and calls us all to acknowledge the tenacious power of love and family.
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"Narrator Tovah Ott's supple and expressive tone is well suited to author Wayétu Moore's lyrical writing on her family's history in Liberia and the U.S.… Ott carries listeners through the family's many trials as they struggle to settle in America, including Moore's growing recognition of the effect of racism upon her identity.
— AudioFile Magazine
Quotes
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“In her bruising new memoir…she threads an urgent narrative about the costs of survival and the strength of familial love.”
— Time -
Ott’s extensive experience certainly explains her agile character transitions…. From disoriented young children to harried adults, rebel fighters to refugees, and an anxious mother and searching daughter, Ott shifts readily, creating diverse personas.
— Booklist -
Immersive, exhilarating. . . . This memoir adds an essential voice to the genre of migrant literature, challenging false popular narratives that migration is optional, permanent and always results in a better life.
— The New York Times Book Review
Awards
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Nominated for the Reading the West Book Award
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An Indie Next List Pick
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick
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A Time Magazine Best Book of 2020
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A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
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A Ms. Magazine Pick of the Year's Best Books
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Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award
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About Wayétu Moore
Wayétu Moore is the founder of One Moore Book and is a graduate of Howard University, Columbia University, and the University of Southern California. She teaches at the City University of New York’s John Jay College.