Synopsis "Floating in a Most Peculiar Way: A Memoir (in English)"
The astonishing journey of a bright, utterly displaced boy, from the short-lived African nation of Biafra, to Jamaica, to the harshest streets of Los Angeles&;a searing memoir that adds fascinating depth to the coming-to-America storyThe first time Chude-Sokei realizes that he is &;first son of the first son&; of a renowned leader of the bygone African nation is in Uncle Daddy and Big Auntie&;s strict religious household in Jamaica, where he lives with other abandoned children. A visiting African has just fallen to his knees to shake him by the shoulders: &;Is this the boy? Is this him?&;Chude-Sokei&;s immersion in the politics of race and belonging across the landscape of the African diaspora takes a turn when his traumatized mother, who has her own extraordinary history as the onetime &;Jackie O of Biafra,&; finally sends for him to come live with her. In Inglewood, Los Angeles, on the eve of gangsta rap and the LA riots, it&;s as if he&;s fallen to Earth. In this world, anything alien&;definitely Chude-Sokei&;s secret obsession with science fiction and David Bowie&;is a danger, and his yearning to become a Black American gets deeply, sometimes absurdly, complicated. Ultimately, it is a boisterous pan-African family of honorary aunts, uncles, and cousins that becomes his secret society, teaching him the redemptive skill of navigating not just Blackness, but Blacknesses, in his America.
