'If I Survive You' navigates family and identity in the Jamaican diaspora

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2022

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

Jonathan Escoffery's debut collection of short stories follows the American-born son of Jamaican immigrants finding his place in the world and within his own family. Inspired by some of his own life experiences, If I Survive You questions what it means to belong, how culture is shared across generations, and why people migrate in the first place. Escoffery tells Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes that he wanted to disrupt the American savior complex, and instead acknowledge U.S. imperialism's role in pushing people out of their homes.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Where I am here in Baltimore,
0:07.6	that crisp cooling air can only mean one thing is on the horizon, list season. You know,
0:13.1	when everyone's out here with their best of lists for everything from cooking gadgets to movies,
0:17.8	to pants or whatever. Of course, there will be best books lists from us here
0:23.0	at NPR and other folks. And if there's any justice in the world, you'll be seeing today's
0:27.8	author on that list. His name is Jonathan Iskoffrey, and his debut short story collection is called
0:32.7	If I Survive You. It follows a Jamaican-American family, and the book finds a way to talk about identity, class,
0:39.5	and race in a way that doesn't feel preachy or luxury at all. He talks to Hira-Nazdipa Fernandez
0:44.9	about adding some layers of complexity to the narratives we hear so often when it comes to stories
0:50.8	about immigration. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.
0:56.0	When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.
1:02.1	Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's Apply.
1:07.5	This message comes from heavyweight. Maybe you've laid awake and imagined how it could have been, how it might be, but the moment to act was never right.
1:16.3	Well, the moment is here, and the podcast making it happen is Heavyweight with Jonathan Goldstein,
1:21.6	available wherever you get podcasts.
1:24.8	One of the most acclaimed literary debuts this year was Jamaican-American Jonathan Escofrey's short-story collection, If I Survive You.
1:34.1	It was long-listed for the National Book Award for Fiction.
1:38.0	The eight tales are cleverly woven to tell one bigger story about family, race, and the Jamaican-American experience.
1:46.8	The first story, in flux, addresses the question of identity.
1:50.9	This excerpt explores what happens when a nine-year-old American boy visits Jamaica, his
1:56.3	parents' country, for the first time.
1:58.3	You disagree with every aspect of the island life down to the general
	...

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