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like Wrestling
By Danyel Smith About the Book
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like Wrestling is the story of two sisters, Page and Pinch. It is
a coming-of-age
story with its setting in Oakland, California, in the
1980s, at a
time when the beautiful, crumbling city is being transformed by
the dark temptations of its underworld. The
sisters are confronted with a series of surprising
reversals—death, disaster, and, maybe, love—that forces them
to come to grips with the truth about their choices and their
tangled roots.
Smart, stubborn Paige and her silent little
sister, Pinch, enjoy an idyllic if lopsided childhood as
children of a single mother, with visits to the library, ballet
lessons, and Black Panther day care.
But when Paige is 14 and Pinch is 12, their
mother's boyfriend attacks Paige in public, and Paige persuades
their mother to rent the girls their own apartment. Making house
for each other, they begin to attract a circle of friends:
Maynard, Donnell and LaNell, Teeara, Oscar. Through high school
it is all (or mostly) innocent, just microwave dinners together
and trips to Mexicali Rose for burritos.
Then the boys begin to have more money—too
much money. Paige's best friend, Maynard, marries an uptown girl
named Jess and has a baby; Paige drops out of college and starts
dating Oscar. Oscar and Maynard begin dealing drugs; then Jess
is shot and killed, and Paige thinks she knows who's
responsible.
Fiercely independent and sharp as she has
always seemed, she begins to lose her bearings and lean on
Pinch, who is still quiet but surprisingly resilient.
* *
* *
Lyrical and original . . . Smith
has created vivid characters, a palpable sense of place, and a
wholly absorbing story.
—New
York Times Book Review
a promising newcomer
—Evette
Porter, Black Issues Book Review
Lyrical and
engaging . . . Smith’s light, sinewy prose sings with
precision.
—Washington
Post Bookworld
A wildly intelligent coming-of-age story [and] a morally complex
take on the devastating costs of poverty and racism—a tale
that deals in hard truths and, ultimately, forgiveness.
—Elle
Smith’s supple language and the generosity she shows toward
her own imagination and memory allows something new and real to
emerge—a grittier, muckier story, full of the uncertainty of
life.
—Africana
I
know and love Danyel as a music writer. Now she writes with
music in her language—and hits all the right notes.
—Quincy
Jones
More Like
Wrestling is a work of beauty and moral complexity about
love in its resplendent and damaging incarnations. A brilliant
and bracing debut from a supremely gifted writer.
—Michael
Eric Dyson, author of Why I Love Black Women
We always hear that rap music is full of true stories, but few
writers capture the intimate truths behind the beats as
fearlessly as Danyel Smith. Perhaps no novel has so perfectly
evoked the hot spot of 1980s Oakland, California—its wide
streets sparkling with just-detailed sports cars, its feminine
beauty, and its sometimes fatal darkness.
—Ann
Powers, author of Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America
Danyel Smith skillfully evokes the complications that come when
family loves hard and strong. Hers is a fresh, new voice that
lovers of stories well told should look out for.
—Denene
Millner, author of Love Don’t Live Here Anymore
Danyel Smith’s voice is as beautiful as her beloved Bay area
homeland . . . Smith’s arresting narrative speaks of choice,
the power of circumstance, real love, and sisterhood. In the
end, we understand that the stories behind our scars and the
stories behind our victories are one and the same.
—
Sacha Jenkins, writer-at-large, Spin, and coauthor of ego trip’s
Big Book of Racism
* * * *
Her second novel,
Bliss
will be published July 2005.
posted 5/7/05 |
