How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America

Praise for Kiese Laymon and his debut novel "LONG DIVISION" "["How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America"] is not intended to serve as "a woe-is-we narrative" about the difficulties of being black in America or the South...or even an attempt to illuminate the taboo-amongst-black-folk subject of mental health--although both serve as narrative threads in Laymon's writing. Rather, it's an exercise in recalling memories." --"Jackson Free Press" "Funny, astute and searching.... The author's satirical instincts are excellent. He is also intimately attuned to the confusion of young black Americans who live under the shadow of a history that they only gropingly understand and must try to fill in for themselves." --Sam Sacks, "Wall Street Journal" "Don't miss Kiese Laymon's "Long Division." One Mississippi town with two engaging stories in two very different decades. The sharp humor and deep humanity make this debut novel unforgettable." --Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC "A novel within a novel--hilarious, moving and occasionally dizzying.... Laymon cleverly interweaves his narrative threads and connects characters in surprising and seemingly impossible ways. Laymon moves us dazzlingly (and sometimes bewilderingly) from 1964 to 1985 to 2013 and incorporates themes of prejudice, confusion and love rooted in an emphatically post-Katrina world." --"Kirkus Reviews" "Laymon's debut novel is an ambitious mix of contemporary southern gothic with Murakamiesque magical realism.... the book elegantly showcases Laymon's command of voice and storytelling skill in a tale that is at once dreamlike and concrete, personal and political." --"Booklist" "Smart, exciting and energetic...the language romps and roars along through some truly wonderful comic scenes and yet the book doesn't hesitate to comment seriously on questions that matter to human beings everywhere, not just in rural Mississippi." --Victor LaValle, author of "Big Machine" and "Sl