Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Ndiya Grayson returns to her childhood home of Chicago as a young professional, but even her high-end job in a law office can't protect her from memories of an impoverished past in the South Side. One evening, vulnerable and emotionally disarrayed, she goes out and meets her equal and opposite.
Shame Luther is a no-nonsense construction worker by day and a jazz pianist by night, an expert navigator of the gaps that fall between piano notes, memories, and conversations. Almost by accident, Ndiya and Shame begin building an intimate and private world. But as tectonic plates in Chicago shift--and as landlords and exes, dealers and children, media attention and brutal police encroach--this world only fractures further. Their singular, remarkable quest for peace takes them through time and memory, across the ocean, and ultimately back into each other's arms, through shouts and chronological record skips.
A vibrant portrait in overlapping color and texture, Another Kind of Madness tells the story of looking for trust and love in an increasingly uninhabitable America. A jazz song of a novel laced with poetic, near-synesthetic language, this is an extraordinary debut.
Synopsis
"A full-bodied literary achievement bustling with sweat, regret, and sound." --KIESE LAYMON
Ndiya Grayson returns to her childhood home of Chicago as a young professional, but even her high-end job in a law office can't protect her from half-repressed memories of childhood trauma. One evening, vulnerable and emotionally disarrayed, she goes out and meets her equal and opposite:
Shame Luther, a no-nonsense construction worker by day and a self-taught piano player by night. The love story that ensues propels them on an unforgettable journey from Chicago's South Side to the coast of Kenya as they navigate the turbulence of long-buried pasts and an uncertain future.
A stirring novel tuned to the clash between soul music's vision of our essential responsibility to each other and a world that breaks us down and tears us apart, Another Kind of Madness is an indelible tale of human connection.