Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.
Absolutely wonderful, heartbreaking memoir of a Black boy adopted by a white Pentecostal family, and how he is never truly a part of that world because his family never understands him. Harrison tried his entire childhood to be who his parents wanted him to be. He was desperate for their love and acceptance, but his parents “didn’t see color,” so he was never truly seen for who he was. He was even mocked and derided for being Black.
Harrison’s story is unfortunately not uncommon. Plenty of white people adopt Black children with a savior’s heart, especially within the Christian fundamentalist community. Stories like Harrison’s need to be told and digested so this pattern can end. The way his mother, especially, treated him just gutted me. How she could say the things she did to her child was unbelievable. By the end of the book, Harrison meets his West African birth mother, which forges a new bond, but also a new complication. This book was beautiful and should be on required reading lists.
Pleasant Nights 