Obviously
Stories from My Timeline
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4.7 • 10 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
"A refreshingly funny and blisteringly unsentimental coming-of-age memoir." -John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All The Way Down and The Fault in Our Stars
In Akilah Hughes's world, family--and life--are often complicated, but always funny. Through intimate and hilarious essays, Akilah takes readers along on her journey from the small Kentucky town where she was born--and eventually became a spelling bee champ and 15-year-old high school graduate--to New York City, where she took careful steps to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer and performer. Like Tiffany Haddish's The Last Black Unicorn or Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? for the YA set, Akilah pens revealing and laugh-out-loud funny essays about her life, covering everything from her racist fifth grade teacher, her struggles with weight and acne, her failed attempts at joining the cheerleading team, how to literally get to New York (hint: for a girl on a budget, it may include multiple bus transfers) and exactly how to "make it" once you finally get there.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Through 30 candid essays, Hughes, a comedian, writer, and social media influencer, spotlights the tumultuous experience of growing up black, female, and gifted. In "The Little Cheerleader That Couldn't," Hughes recounts a wrenching failure to become a cheerleader in grade school, despite encouragement and some natural ability, concluding, "It turns out you can be excellent, objectively, at any number of things, and life will come in hot with the unfairness." Detailing a mutual vendetta between herself and her fifth-grade teacher, Hughes confronts the question asked by many kids growing up black in a frequently hostile world: Is it because I'm black? Funny, bittersweet, thought-provoking, and deeply sobering, Hughes's narrative reconstructs countless memories of a childhood spent exploring "band, speech, and drama," sports, and more to become as "well-rounded" as her mother wanted her and her siblings to be. She also includes sparse recollections of an unsympathetic, unlamented father; a young adulthood spent overcoming setbacks to realize her rapidly coalescing dreams; and the illness that almost stopped those dreams cold. Though primarily aimed at established Hughes fans, anyone facing difficult odds, or those seeking a career in entertainment, will glean much from this collection. Ages 14 up.
