In the Country of Women: A Memoir by Susan Straight (English) Paperback Book

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"To understand my daughters and their sisterhood, you have to know the women, and sisters, who came before." In the Country of Women is a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and the nation's indomitable women, written by National Book Award finalist and Guggenheim Fellow Susan Straight

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

One of NPR's Best Books of the Year"Straight's memoir is a lyric social history of her multiracial clan in Riverside that explores the bonds of love and survival that bind them, with a particular emphasis on the women's stories . . . The aftereffect of all these disparate stories juxtaposed in a single epic is remarkable. Its resonance lingers for days after reading." —San Francisco ChronicleIn the Country of Women is a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and indomitable women. In inland Southern California, near the desert and the Mexican border, Susan Straight, a self–proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African American basketball player, started dating in high school. After college, they married and drove to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Straight met her teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write. Once back in Riverside, at driveway barbecues and fish fries with the large, close–knit Sims family, Straight—and eventually her three daughters—heard for decades the stories of Dwayne's female ancestors. Some women escaped violence in post–slavery Tennessee, some escaped murder in Jim Crow Mississippi, and some fled abusive men. Straight's mother–in–law, Alberta Sims, is the descendant at the heart of this memoir. Susan's family, too, reflects the hardship and resilience of women pushing onward—from Switzerland, Canada, and the Colorado Rockies to California.A Pakistani word, biraderi, is one Straight uses to define a complex system of kinship and clan—those who become your family. An entire community helped raise her daughters. Of her three girls, now grown and working in museums and the entertainment industry, Straight writes, "The daughters of our ancestors carry in their blood at least three continents. We are not about borders. We are about love and survival.""Certain books give off the sense that you won't want them to end, so splendid the writing, so lyrical the stories. Such is the case with Southern California novelist Susan Straight's new memoir, In the Country of Women . . . Her vibrant pages are filled with people of churned–together blood culled from scattered immigrants and native peoples, indomitable women and their babies. Yet they never succumb . . . Straight gives us permission to remember what went before with passion and attachment." ––Los Angeles Times

Author Biography

SUSAN STRAIGHT has published eight novels, including Highwire Moon, Between Heaven and Here, and A Million Nightingales. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the National Magazine Award. She is the recipient of the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Edgar Award for Best Short Story, the O. Henry Prize, the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Granta, McSweeney's, Black Clock, Harper's, and other journals. Her work has been translated into Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, Romanian, Swedish, and Russian. She is Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside. She was born in Riverside, where she lives with her family.

Review

Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and NonfictionOne of NPR's Best Books of the YearAn Amazon Best History Book of the Month"In the end, Straight's book is about far more than a country of women. It's an ode to the entire multiracial, transnational tribe she claims as her own . . . In fact, her words are for all those who now call her mother, aunt, cousin and sister, in the neighborhood where she has lived her entire life. And for all those who survived, so these women could live." —Kristal Brent Zook, The New York Times Book Review"While Straight reflects on far more than her own upbringing and experiences growing up, she brings her trademark lyricism and a significant dose of humility to those segments of the book . . . Not all the women Straight introduces us to are mothers, but it seems fitting that her book's final chapter also is addressed to her daughters . . . Straight's gift to them—the story of where they come from and the amazing women who have shaped their lives—nicely doubles as a gift for us." —Ericka Taylor, NPR"Straight's skillful ability to take us from the intimacy of family history to the wider considerations of America's legacy is a wonder. This is not only a story of women, but of immigration, police brutality and the history of slavery . . . Straight captures an American story in all its ugly complexity." —Crystal Hana Kim, The Washington Post"Lauded fiction writer Straight turns to memoir in this innovative and emotional exploration of the women in her and her husband's lives, addressed to her daughters so they can know the stories of who came before them." —Entertainment Weekly"Certain books give off the sense that you won't want them to end, so splendid the writing, so lyrical the stories. Such is the case with Southern California novelist Susan Straight's new memoir, In the Country of Women . . . Her vibrant pages are filled with people of churned–together blood culled from scattered immigrants and native peoples, indomitable women and their babies. Yet they never succumb . . . Straight gives us permission to remember what went before with passion and attachment." —Janet Kinosian, Los Angeles Times"Susan Straight wrote this family history for her three daughters—and we're lucky that she shared it with the rest of us. Theirs is a saga full of independent, brave, tough women . . . This is the story of America, through the lens of one family." —Elena Nicolau, Refinery29"A moving family saga celebrates generations of bold, brave, and determined women. Award–winning novelist Straight makes her nonfiction debut with an eloquent, absorbing memoir. Addressed to her three adult daughters, the narrative weaves together stories that transcend time, place, race, and ethnicity to vibrantly portray her children's rich ancestry . . . A radiant memoir imbued with palpable love." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"With stirring details and delving perceptions, Straight chronicles the repercussions, generation after generation, of enslavement, Jim Crow, and immigration, as well as rape, murder, grueling work, and single motherhood, while tracing the journeys of the women in her clan to Canada, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, and, finally, gritty, multicultural Riverside, California, Straight's hometown. As Straight braids her three daughters into this deeply affecting saga, she maps her path to becoming a writer, encouraged by her mentor, James Baldwin, and profoundly inspired by her mother–in–law. Ultimately, this is a ravishing and revelatory celebration of womanhood, resilience, family, community, and America's defining diversity." —Booklist (starred review)"What a beautiful book! In the Country of Women must be the most populated, celebratory, filled–with–life memoir of our time. With her characteristic mix of compassion, warmth, humor, and acerbic insight, Susan Straight writes of her 'massive black and mixed–race family' and her 'quirky, deeply embedded white family'—a memoir that is, though addressed to her three daughters, a valentine to virtually everyone whom the renowned author has known in the course of her vividly described life." —Joyce Carol Oates

Long Description

One of NPR's Best Books of the Year "Straight's memoir is a lyric social history of her multiracial clan in Riverside that explores the bonds of love and survival that bind them, with a particular emphasis on the women's stories . . . The aftereffect of all these disparate stories juxtaposed in a single epic is remarkable. Its resonance lingers for days after reading." -- San Francisco Chronicle In the Country of Women is a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and indomitable women. In inland Southern California, near the desert and the Mexican border, Susan Straight, a self-proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African American basketball player, started dating in high school. After college, they married and drove to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Straight met her teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write. Once back in Riverside, at driveway barbecues and fish fries with the large, close-knit Sims family, Straight--and eventually her three daughters--heard for decades the stories of Dwayne's female ancestors. Some women escaped violence in post-slavery Tennessee, some escaped murder in Jim Crow Mississippi, and some fled abusive men. Straight's mother-in-law, Alberta Sims, is the descendant at the heart of this memoir. Susan's family, too, reflects the hardship and resilience of women pushing onward--from Switzerland, Canada, and the Colorado Rockies to California. A Pakistani word, biraderi , is one Straight uses to define a complex system of kinship and clan--those who become your family. An entire community helped raise her daughters. Of her three girls, now grown and working in museums and the entertainment industry, Straight writes, "The daughters of our ancestors carry in their blood at least three continents. We are not about borders. We are about love and survival." "Certain books give off the sense that you won't want them to end, so splendid the writing, so lyrical the stories. Such is the case with Southern California novelist Susan Straight's new memoir, In the Country of Women . . . Her vibrant pages are filled with people of churned-together blood culled from scattered immigrants and native peoples, indomitable women and their babies. Yet they never succumb . . . Straight gives us permission to remember what went before with passion and attachment." -- Los Angeles Times

Review Quote

Praise for In the Country of Women Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction One of NPR''s Best Books of the Year An Amazon Best History Book of the Month "In the end, Straight''s book is about far more than a country of women. It''s an ode to the entire multiracial, transnational tribe she claims as her own . . . In fact, her words are for all those who now call her mother, aunt, cousin and sister, in the neighborhood where she has lived her entire life. And for all those who survived, so these women could live." -- Kristal Brent Zook, The New York Times Book Review "While Straight reflects on far more than her own upbringing and experiences growing up, she brings her trademark lyricism and a significant dose of humility to those segments of the book . . . Not all the women Straight introduces us to are mothers, but it seems fitting that her book''s final chapter also is addressed to her daughters . . . Straight''s gift to them--the story of where they come from and the amazing women who have shaped their lives--nicely doubles as a gift for us." -- Ericka Taylor, NPR "Straight''s skillful ability to take us from the intimacy of family history to the wider considerations of America''s legacy is a wonder. This is not only a story of women, but of immigration, police brutality and the history of slavery . . . Straight captures an American story in all its ugly complexity." -- Crystal Hana Kim, The Washington Post "Lauded fiction writer Straight turns to memoir in this innovative and emotional exploration of the women in her and her husband''s lives, addressed to her daughters so they can know the stories of who came before them." -- Entertainment Weekly "Certain books give off the sense that you won''t want them to end, so splendid the writing, so lyrical the stories. Such is the case with Southern California novelist Susan Straight''s new memoir, In the Country of Women . . . Her vibrant pages are filled with people of churned-together blood culled from scattered immigrants and native peoples, indomitable women and their babies. Yet they never succumb . . . Straight gives us permission to remember what went before with passion and attachment." -- Janet Kinosian, Los Angeles Times "Susan Straight wrote this family history for her three daughters--and we''re lucky that she shared it with the rest of us. Theirs is a saga full of independent, brave, tough women . . . This is the story of America, through the lens of one family." -- Elena Nicolau, Refinery29 "A moving family saga celebrates generations of bold, brave, and determined women. Award-winning novelist Straight makes her nonfiction debut with an eloquent, absorbing memoir. Addressed to her three adult daughters, the narrative weaves together stories that transcend time, place, race, and ethnicity to vibrantly portray her children''s rich ancestry . . . A radiant memoir imbued with palpable love." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "With stirring details and delving perceptions, Straight chronicles the repercussions, generation after generation, of enslavement, Jim Crow, and immigration, as well as rape, murder, grueling work, and single motherhood, while tracing the journeys of the women in her clan to Canada, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, and, finally, gritty, multicultural Riverside, California, Straight''s hometown. As Straight braids her three daughters into this deeply affecting saga, she maps her path to becoming a writer, encouraged by her mentor, James Baldwin, and profoundly inspired by her mother-in-law. Ultimately, this is a ravishing and revelatory celebration of womanhood, resilience, family, community, and America''s defining diversity." -- Booklist (starred review) "What a beautiful book! In the Country of Women must be the most populated, celebratory, filled-with-life memoir of our time. With her characteristic mix of compassion, warmth, humor, and acerbic insight, Susan Straight writes of her ''massive black and mixed-race family'' and her ''quirky, deeply embedded white family''--a memoir that is, though addressed to her three daughters, a valentine to virtually everyone whom the renowned author has known in the course of her vividly described life." -- Joyce Carol Oates

Description for Sales People

A memoir about race--women who are African-descended, French and Swiss, indigenous and immigrant, whose fathers are a mystery, and how mixed-race people continue to shape this nation, as they always have. In the Country of Women follows six generations of women in Susan Straight''s family, including Fine, daughter of an enslaved woman who died just after the Civil War; Daisy, whose mother was murdered in Mississippi; Ruby, Susan''s paternal grandmother, whose life ended in the Colorado Rockies before Susan was born; her own mother, Gabrielle, and her immigration from the Swiss Alps to Canada to California; Susan''s life and those of her three daughters, all descendants of fierce, resilient women. The book is also a memoir of migration and memory and murder, mothers and daughters and sisters, an odyssey of heroic journeys west, always west, made by women, toward the homes they fashioned in California. It''s also about family, tenacity, and love. Straight offers thoughtful and exhaustively researched stories and mini-biographies of five generations of women, and paints a portrait (one part intimate revisionist history, one part Homeric feminist epic) of a nation forged and families sustained through the decisions, struggles, and movements of its women: "They survived passages that would have made a lot of men quit. Sometimes the men did quit. Sometimes the women quit the men--to stay alive." Susan Straight can write , and her evocative sentences and storytelling beg to be read aloud. She brings alive a California that readers have not encountered in Joan Didion or Eve Babitz. Straight''s California is working-class, immigrant-rich, Native and Mexican and Japanese American, and often held together by the single family unit where mothers work and fathers have left long ago. But like Didion, Straight values letters and literature, and both helped her to survive and sustain empathy. In the Country of Women is a welcome portrait of interracial, working-class America; while often unseen, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population has identified as mixed race, and Susan Straight offers a moving and accessible story of her family, mapping her mixed-race daughters'' ancestry through the lives of the women who came before them. Yet this is no Pollyanna tale or postracial fantasy; the families in this memoir are not immune to racism, sexual violence, or socioeconomic struggles. But in spite of these hurdles, and in an attempt to overcome them, Straight''s relatives champion a fierce love focused on the survival and care of kin and community, which is a universal concern unbound by race or class. In the Country of Women is an unconventional love letter to Straight''s three mixed-race daughters, the "future of America"; she maps the love (and loss) from which they came. James Baldwin was Susan Straight''s teacher at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and he was the one who urged her to write about her life and her husband''s life. In The Country of Women is also the story of how books can change lives, change socioeconomic status, change and engender empathy. Bookseller Praise for In The Country of Women "How did you get here? How many people traveled how many miles, to meet and marry and have the children that then moved about to meet and marry and have children, and on and on until you were born? In the Country of Women is an incredible, informative, and moving memoir that takes us on several journeys. Going back and forth, author Susan Straight takes the reader between her own story--meeting and falling in love with her husband and having children with him--and the epic journeys and lifetimes of all of the amazing and resilient women on both sides of the family. Gripping and thought provoking, Susan Straight discusses race, and sex, and love and loss, leaving you thinking hard about all these things long after you have put the book down. Brilliant work." -- Mary OMalley, Anderson''s Bookshop (La Grange, IL)

Details ISBN164622020X Author Susan Straight Short Title In the Country of Women Pages 384 Publisher Catapult Language English Year 2020 ISBN-10 164622020X ISBN-13 9781646220205 Format Paperback Subtitle A Memoir Imprint Catapult Place of Publication New York, NY Country of Publication United States Publication Date 2020-08-25 AU Release Date 2020-08-25 NZ Release Date 2020-08-25 US Release Date 2020-08-25 UK Release Date 2020-08-25 DEWEY 813/.54 Audience General We've got this

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