* Description
* "Khary is using his passion to uplift and inspire a next
generation...." --Oprah Winfrey
"Mr. Lazarre-White has written an artfully compact parable of a
noble soul seeking deliverance."--Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
"Khary Lazarre-White is one of the most transformative men of his
generation. As co-founder of Bro/Sis organization he has changed
countless lives. In Passage he brings that same sense of purpose
to a chilling tale that follows a young man named Warrior. Set in
1993, this rich intelligent work documents how the ghosts of the
past still haunt us." --Patrik Bass, Essence
"As Warrior experiences dangers real and imagined, current and
ancestral, Lazarre-White, activist and founder of a Harlem-based
youth-education organization, infuses his vivid journey with
thought- and discussion-provoking symbolism. This is a unique and
haunting portrayal of a young black man considering his
inheritance, and his destiny."
--Booklist
"Khary Lazarre-White's gripping, relentless dive into the inner
life of a young African American male named Warrior invites
readers into a world where few have dared to venture. In this
world, mysticism and madness walk hand in hand with the waking
reality of so many young Black men in America, a reality that by
any rational measure is itself insane. In Passage, Lazarre-White
offers ins and answers to the one question the media never
asks when scrutinizing young Black men for their responses to
that reality: Why?" --Susan L. Taylor
"The reader wants to break free from the madness that
circumscribes Warrior's world -- and this is the point. A high
school student whose intellect goes unnoticed, Warrior cannot
close a book to escape the maelstrom, and neither should the
reader. After all, if certain scenes are difficult to read,
Lazarre-White implies, imagine how difficult it must be to live
them. This dystopia is his neighborhood." --Eisa Nefertari Ulen,
Los Angeles Review of Books
"Powerful, lyrical and evocatively written, Passage is a
transportive story of love and survival, a walk in the shoes of a
young man negotiating an uncertain present, a painful past and
the promising future he may never have. A stunning debut."
--Terence Winter, creator and executive producer, Boardwalk
Empire; Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominee for The
Wolf of Wall Street
"Passage is a work of great originality, pain, and aching beauty.
Its protagonist, Warrior, a sensitive, haunted and haunting young
man, bears the burden of history: the past is always near,
shaping and informing present realities of black boys like
himself. As he traverses a dystopian urban landscape, one that is
both surreal and all too real, he encounters the depth of Black
Rage, the persistence of Black Death, and the tremendous capacity
of Black Love. Like Warrior, Passage pays homage to its
predecessors, while forging its own path--one that speaks most
eloquently to our present and insists that we create a starkly
different future." --Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of Harlem
Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War
II
"You will not soon forget this gem of a book. With powerful,
searing prose, Mr. Lazarre-White has written a book that in
Kafka's immortal phrase wounds and stabs. From the haunting
opening passage about Midnight Blue, the reader cannot look away,
no matter how much pain spills across these pages; pages which
cross the expanse from 1993 Harlem to the slavers of antebellum
America. Without the pain, however, the story would ring hollow.
This novel is anything but. This is a book about History. And
Memory. And Destiny. What happens to a people who neglect their
past? They are cut off, cast adrift. As they lose themselves, it
remains for a few witnesses to hold a light against the seductive
power of the abyss. Never easy, often in isolation, those who see
and remember can lead the way out of the swamp, back to a place
that is genuine. The poet Czeslaw Milosz understood the immense
difficulties of living as History walks among us with its
necklace of severed heads. So too does Mr. Lazarre-White. He,
through his memorable characters, resists the pull of the
Crossroad, and points out another way." --Shawn Wathen, Chapter
One Bookstore, Hamilton, MT
Number of Pages: 192
Genre: Fiction + Literature Genres
Sub-Genre: African American
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Book theme: General
Author: Khary Lazarre-White
Language: English
Estimated shipping dimensions: 5.8INCH X 8.5INCH X 1.0INCH
DPCI : 248-42-9250
UPC : 9781609807832
TCIN : 52170391
Estimated shippimg weight: 0.8POUND