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    As Lie Is to Grin: A Novel
    Unavailable
    As Lie Is to Grin: A Novel
    Unavailable
    As Lie Is to Grin: A Novel
    Ebook157 pages1 hour

    As Lie Is to Grin: A Novel

    By Simeon Marsalis

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A slim yet boldly ambitious novel about race, identity, and the missing chapters of American history: “Deep and creative . . . thought-provoking” (Booklist).
     
    David, the narrator of Simeon Marsalis’s singular debut novel, is a freshman at the University of Vermont who is struggling to define himself against the white backdrop of his school. He is also mourning the loss of his girlfriend, whose grandfather’s alma mater he has chosen to attend. When David met Melody, he lied to her about who he was and where he lived. Now, this lie haunts and almost unhinges him as he attempts to find his true voice and identity.
     
    On campus in Vermont, David imagines encounters with a student from the past who might represent either Melody’s grandfather or Jean Toomer, the author of the acclaimed Harlem Renaissance novel Cane. He becomes obsessed with the varieties of American architecture “upon land that was stolen,” and with the university’s past and attitudes as recorded in its newspaper, The Cynic. He is frustrated with the way the Internet and libraries are curated, making it difficult to find the information he needs to connect the university’s history, African American history, and his own life.
     
    In New York, the previous year, Melody confides a shocking secret about her grandfather’s student days. When she and her father collude with the intent to meet David’s mother in Harlem—craving what they consider an authentic experience of the black world—their plan ends explosively. The title of this impressive and emotionally powerful novel is inspired by Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “We Wear the Mask” (1896): “We wear the mask that grins and lies . . .”
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateOct 1, 2017
    ISBN9781936787609
    Unavailable
    As Lie Is to Grin: A Novel

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    • 4/5
      David is a freshman at University of Vermont, where he is one of the very few African American students. He struggles to figure out how he fits in as a student and as a black man. He is also missing his girlfriend from New York. The relationship was more physical than anything else, but started on the lie: he didn’t think that sounded black enough that he was from Long Island, so he lied and said he was from Harlem. Throughout the whole story, while he’s trying to decipher is place in the world, he is also remarkably focused on both American architectural design and Harlem Renaissance writer Jean Toomer.The story is told mostly through journal entries, but also through excerpts from a novel David is working on. As the novel is based on events in his own life, we often get to see the reality as he describes it in his journal as well as the version he’d like to show the world. Sometimes it seems as though David isn’t really sure which is which. Anyone interested in coming of age stories or of reading about someone come to terms with their own reality, will enjoy this book.