Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⬜
Title: Home Bound: An Uprooted Daughter's Reflections on Belonging
Author: Vanessa A Bee
Genre: Memoir
Setting: Cameroon, France, England, United States
Month Read: September 2022
Book Type: E-Arc
Publication: October 2022
Publisher: Astra House
Pages: 256
*Thank you to NetGalley and Astra House for my E-Arc of this novel. It has in no way influenced my review.
TRIGGER WARNING-
Racism / Misogyny / Religion / Pregnancy / Sexual Assault
"Half our lists won't make it under the Christmas tree. But the dreaming is free."
No Spoiler Summary:
Born in Cameroon and adopted by her aunt and her aunt's white French husband, Vanessa A. Bee grew up in a village in France where her adoptive father worked in a Renault factory. After her parents divorced, Vanessa was uprooted time and again due to her adoptive mother's changing circumstances, experiencing housing insecurity both in France and the UK. Asa teen she immigrates to Reno, Nevada, on the cusp of the housing crisis. Eventually, after graduating from Harvard Law School and navigating a career in economic justice, Vanessa makes a home for herself in Washington, DC.
Vanessa's adoptive, multiracial, multilingual, multinational, and transcontinental upbringing has made her grapple for years with foundational questions such as: What is home? Is it the country we're born in, the body we possess, or the name we were given and that identifies us? Is it the house we remember most fondly, the social status assigned to us, or the ideology we forge? What defines us and makes us uniquely who we are?
Organized around her own dictionary-style definitions of the word "home," Vanessa tackles these timeless questions thematically and unpacks the many layers that contribute to and condition our understanding of ourselves and of our place in the world.
Review:
I cannot recommend reading this book enough, and after slogging through a lot of books this year that I didn't really enjoy, this book reminded me why I love reading. I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction, but this read so easily, and I was so invested in the story I could hardly put it down. Vanessa tells a beautiful story that I felt so drawn to, and while we live very different lives, I felt so many shared experiences (missing birth fathers and questioning identity, motherhood, etc). If every Memoir read like this, I'd read them far more frequently.
I learned so much reading this book about so many different cultures, communities, and felt like I had travelled all over the world with her. While not an easy life by any means, Vanessa constantly rose above, and I'm happy to see her thrive. (If you don't follow her on Social Media, you should.) I'm so glad I was able to get an Arc of this, as it has been on my reading list since she announced it, and I'm so happy that her pub date is almost here.
If you love Memoirs (or don't) I would give this book a shot, because it's just a really well written, beautiful novel. I cannot wait to read what Vanessa writes next.
Recommendation:
Crying in H- Mart by Michelle Zauner
"I had new life to grow, to dedicate my heart to, and build a loving home for."
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