Título: someone birthed them broken: Stories
Autor: Ama Asantewa Diaka
Sinopse: “Delightfully assertive, subversive and vibrant... an original voice.” ––Imbolo Mbue, author of the New York Times bestseller and PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction winner Behold the Dreamers • "A compelling delight"—Booklist
A visceral and candid portrait of today’s Ghanaian youth, told in interconnected short stories by acclaimed spoken-word artist and author of the poetry collection Woman, Eat Me Whole Ama Asantewa Diaka.
In this startling collection of short fiction, Ama Asantewa Diaka creates a vibrant portrait of young Ghanaians’ today, captured in the experiences of characters whose lives bump against one other in friendship, passion, hope, and heartache. Men like Opoku Sr., not yet forty and struggling to keep his family’s cocoa business afloat after his father’s unexpected passing. Opoku strains under the burden of caring for his eight younger siblings and the child whose mother ran off. When his new girlfriend tells him she’s pregnant, he knows he has nothing left to give.
Years later, that girlfriend’s son, Opoku Jr., now faces his own troubles, including his girlfriend Boatemaa, who (correctly) suspects he is sneaking around, and Amoafoa, the woman he’s seeing on the side. And there is John, who confides to his crush Baaba about a surprising encounter with a male friend over a game of FIFA; Baaba, who falls into a whirlwind romance with her professor that ends in violence; and their friend Ayeley, who is learning to accept pleasure after being raised to believe it is sinful.
Diaka charts this constellation of interconnected lives in thirteen stories, exploring themes which run through the collection like a current: corruption and economic hardship, trauma and infidelity, shame, neglect, and the tribulations of the female body. In telling their stories, Diaka illuminates hope, freedom, and triumph that can be found in the everyday—the bonds between women, the joys of love and sex and art and dancing, the possibility of repair and redemption.
Renowned for her spoken word artistry, Ama Asantewa Diaka demonstrates her lyrical brilliance in this emotionally rich work that unveils profound truths about her country, its inhabitants, and the universality of human experience.
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “someone birthed them broken: Stories”, de Ama Asantewa Diaka, publicado pela editora Amistad, em 2024 e com 208 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Amistad
Páginas: 208
Ano: 2024-01-23
Edição:
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 0063259559
ISBN13: 9780063259553
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Amistad apresentam narrativas densas e envolventes que exploram a experiência negra sob múltiplas perspectivas históricas, culturais e sociais. A leitura costuma ser marcada por um tom que mistura tensão, emoção e reflexão, com personagens complexos e enredos que transitam entre o passado e o presente, muitas vezes abordando temas como racismo, justiça social e legado ancestral. Há obras que se destacam pelo ritmo mais narrativo e ficcional, enquanto outras adotam um tom mais documental ou memorialístico, revelando histórias reais e depoimentos com linguagem acessível e impactante. O catálogo sugere um interesse por histórias que dialogam com questões contemporâneas, mas também aprofundam raízes e memórias, criando um panorama multifacetado da cultura afro-americana e africana.
