Listen Mama

by M.S.P. Williams

Overview

Finalist for Best Audiobook Memoir  --2022 Audie Awards

Finalist for Best Memoir --2022 BookLife/Publishers Weekly Selfies US Book Award

Finalist for Best Memoir --2022 Eric Hoffer Award

Finalist for Best African American Literary Nonfiction --2022 Indie Book Awards

         

"As dramatic as it is heartbreaking." --Kirkus Reviews 

"Warmly likable man doing his utmost to struggle through more tragedy and bad luck than any human being should be handed." -- BookLife/Publishers Weekly Review

"Young adult (and many an adult) readers will find LISTEN MAMA a thoroughly absorbing story." --Midwest Book Review

 

"His descriptive writing has humor and heart..." --AudioFile Magazine

"Even though the book has heartbreak, it has happiness and humor. YA readers will love this moving memoir." --ReaderViews, Reviewer's Choice Silver Award

 

"LISTEN MAMA authentically details the sliding scale of hopes and frustration." --IndieReader, Starred review

Through a series of letters at times heart-breaking, poetic, and unexpectedly humorous, come explore this true teen and young adult journey of a lost soul searching for the love of his mentally ill mother. While facing seemingly insurmountable odds, Manny ultimately becomes her caretaker and guardian while also parenting his four younger siblings in 1990's Houston, Texas.

Witness his transformation in this coming-of-age story of a forgotten and disfigured black child, born into spirit-crushing poverty, and thrust into adult life all too soon. Manny's teen years are spent battling the silent and treacherous enemy of mental illness in his mother's erratic and terrifying behavior. Years of bullying and abuse finally take their toll, and Manny soon finds himself at war with his own demons of depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts as he struggles to find his place in the world, and the true meaning of unconditional love.

Experience this inspirational story of loss, faith, love, and redemption that is guaranteed to bring forth both tears and laughter, heartache and happiness, as it captures your imagination, ignites your soul, and soon has you racing from page to page, breathlessly waiting to discover what happens next...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578730165
Publisher:	Souls Take Flight
Publication date:	01/01/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	834,885
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

M.S.P. Williams was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of The University of Houston with a B.S. degree in Political Science. He relocated to the West Coast with his wife in 2013 where they share a combined love of travel, movies, sports, and doing their small part to make the world a much better place.

Editorial Reviews

03/29/2021

This epistolary coming-of-age memoir follows a resilient protagonist trying to make something of himself without leaving his loved ones behind. In letters addressed to his mother, Selita, Williams recounts facing overwhelming challenges while caring for his brothers, sisters, and mentally ill mother. Over the course of the two decades ending in 2014, he grows from a precocious, TV-obsessed youngster to a determined university student to an exhausted graduate, struggling to provide for his family. The format is diarylike, with letters dated over the whole 19-year period. Williams, called Manny by his family, discusses his early childhood, the hospital accident that left him with severe scarring on his face and head, the sacrifices he makes to help his mother and protect his siblings, his struggles to find a career, his love life, historical and pop culture events. Running through it all is an entertaining and heart-wrenching look at his complex, fraught mother-son relationship with Selita.

The epistolary format provides an incredibly strong sense of character, fully immersing readers in Manny’s story—his upbeat personality, his will to start a better life, and the frustration, sadness, and love in his relationship with Selita. While this lets thoughtful introspection flourish, it can keep readers somewhat distant from the events that form the emotional core of Manny’s experience. Events are mentioned, but not often narrated as scenes and sometimes not discussed for a long time after they occur, so, while Manny is a fully fleshed-out character, the supporting cast, including Selita, can feel flat by comparison.

Another of the memoir’s strengths is its ability to capture the 20-odd years between 1995 and 2014. The entries that discuss albums, basketball players, movies, and historical events (including the election of President Obama—with whom, Manny writes humorously, he shares an obsession with his BlackBerry phone) bring brightness to an occasionally disheartening tale and help immerse the reader in the time period. Not only does this book examine racism, poverty, love, loyalty, and mental illness, but it is a time capsule for the recent past. Readers will be drawn in by this equally devastating and uplifting memoir of a challenging mother-son relationship.

Takeaway: Readers will be drawn in by this equally devastating and uplifting memoir of a challenging mother-son relationship.

Great for fans of: Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, Ariel Leve's An Abbreviated Life, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy.

Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A- Illustrations: N/A Editing: A- Marketing copy: A-

BookLife Reviews