Name: Zubaer's review of How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
Item: How We Fight for Our Lives
Rating: 4
Author: Zubaer

Saeed Jones

From award-winning poet Saeed Jones, How We Fight for Our Lives—winner of the Kirkus Prize and the Stonewall Book Award—is a “moving, bracingly honest memoir” (The New York Times Book Review) written at the crossroads of sex, race, and power. One of the best books of the year as selected by The New York Times; The Washington Post; NPR; Time; The New Yorker; O, The Oprah Magazine; Harper’s Bazaar; Elle; BuzzFeed; Goodreads; and many more. “People don’t just happen,” writes Saeed Jones. “We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. The ‘I’ it seems doesn’t exist until we are able to say, ‘I am no longer yours.’” Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir about a young, black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Through a series of vignettes that chart a course across the American landscape, Jones draws readers into his boyhood and adolescence—into tumultuous relationships with his family, into passing flings with lovers, friends, and strangers. Each piece builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one another—and to one another—as we fight to become ourselves. An award-winning poet, Jones has developed a style that’s as beautiful as it is powerful—a voice that’s by turns a river, a blues, and a nightscape set ablaze. How We Fight for Our Lives is a one-of-a-kind memoir and a book that cements Saeed Jones as an essential writer for our time.

A Memoir

How We Fight for Our Lives

Zubaer

Caroline Lewicki

Saeed Jones's poetic memoir is absolutely beautiful, devastating, and fantastic. So much of the book highlights the delicate intersection between being Black, being gay, and being a gay Black man (all important distinctions in their own ways). There were so many times where I felt the sting of the story Saeed was telling, or felt the tenderness in his interactions, especially with his mom. This was a stunning memoir.

Sahi K

Wow ... I didn’t know what I was expecting from this memoir but this was so much more. It’s the story of the author’s life told by navigating through important moments of his life and the ultimate thread overall is his relationship with his beloved single mother. 

You can clearly see Jones is a poet because even his prose is stunningly beautiful and evocative - literally brimming with feelings like desperation, confusion, longing, fear and grief - and listening to the audiobook in his own voice brings even more life to it. I thought his particular fear about the ramifications of being both Black and gay was very palpable in his words and I could feel it myself. It really broke my heart. I was so lost in his words that I didn’t realize it was already over, and I just wanted to know more. 

This memoir truly deserves all the accolades it’s getting across the community and I hope everyone picks this up. I’m not much of a poetry reader but I definitely wanna go back and checkout his previous award winning poetry books.

Kath Lau

It's a coming-of-age memoir that is very moving and thought-provoking.

Becca Futrell

I received an ALC from the Libro.FM Influencer Program in exchange for an honest review.


I had 0 idea who Saeed Jones was before reading How We Fight For Our Lives. All I knew was that this book was nominated for best memoir & I found myself super curious.

I officially want to know more about the poet & believe that the nomination is well-deserved. 

This memoir is intriguing, heart-breaking and very well-written. It's really difficult to review a book based on someone's life experiences, but I just want to say that this memoir is amazing & well worth your time.

Daryl Houston

This short memoir offers a glimpse into the life of a man at the intersection of both his Blackness and his queerness as he comes of age. The writing is smooth and sometimes lyrical (Jones is a poet too), and I feel like he conveyed, in a short space, a lot about his experience at that intersection.

Zubaer &
How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Reviews

Join the club

Zubaer &How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Reviews

Join the club

Zubaer &
How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones