“It occurs to you that people like you — people who burn themselves up in pursuit of survival — rarely survive anyone or anything.”
Recently, I sat in the sweltering room to listen to celebrated author JonathanEscoffery talk about his debut novel “If I Survive You.” The room was packed to the brim with people practically oozing both sweat and English major energy. Sperry shoes and tweedabounded. Humidity levels were such that the windows were dripping with condensation. Still, Iwas excited to attend. The book, or more specifically collection of short stories, had been aheart-wrenching, lyrical and dryly humorous read that at alternate times caused me to both laughand wipe tears.
Now, I do have to confess that I read this book for my Intermediate FictionWriting class, and my attendance to what ended up being a great lecture was mandatory. Nevertheless, the book was incredible, and I read the entire book front to back in onesleepless night.
Escoffery’s “If I Survive You” is a piece that depicts the interconnecting lives of a family who has just immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica. Its format is a series of short stories, although they are so intertwined it almost reads like a novel. This short story format is incredibly effective in giving readers a fuller experience of the family as each one gives a different point of view. The collection delves into the family’s experiences of extreme hardship adjusting culturally, economically and identity-wise, with their struggles to communicate with each other and scrape by coming to the forefront of the narrative.
The plot centers around Trelawny, the son of Jamaican parents who is adrift in more ways than one as he grapples with both physical, ethnic and familial displacement. As the only member of his family born in America, he struggles with his ethnic identity, often unsure of how to identify himself. Additionally, he grapples with home and job insecurity, often doing demeaning odd jobs from Craigslist and living out of his car. While I loved reading about Trelawny, what really set this book apart for me was that readers get multiple stories that give us insight into other family members and their inside monologues. For example, we get to see the point of view of his father Topper, with whom Trelawny has a strained relationship. Topper is a hard working immigrant from Jamaica who tries his best to support his family but struggles with his bond to the more scholarly Trelawny, preferring his more athletic and similar son Delano. The perspective we receive allows readers to see that even after Topper tells Trelawny he’s disappointed in him and kicks him out, we know this is a move he is regretting even as he does it.
To me, Escoffery’s choice to write short stories in different perspectives is a very empathetic method of storytelling. It allows readers to take an incredibly deep look into every member of this turbulent family, including brothers, father and cousin. Family members that may seem harsh from the outside are often flawed, troubled and desperately trying their hardest once you see into their point of view. Every character has their own separate narrative, motivations and struggles.
I want to make sure that I give kudos to the frankly beautiful prose that Escoffery uses. It’s often very specific and almost brutal, which adds realism to the plot. His language makes the humor in the characters’ inner monologues all the more funny in contrast, and he keeps your attention in dark and twisted scenes. It makes sense to me why this book was the winner of the Plimpton Prize for fiction, has been shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize and nominated for scores more.
I’m going to be reading any future work of this young writer, even without my class assigning it.
Examining Escoffery: ‘If I Survive You’
Maria Tobias
