Book: A Song for Quiet by Cassandra Khaw

[seraphcelene]

Cassandra Khaw kills me every time. A Song for Quiet is 100 pages of beautiful, bitter music vacillating between hope and despair. Khaw is Asian American and lovingly draws a careful portrait of the rawness of real life in Jim Crow America. If you're nervous about writing someone else's experience, I think this is a great example of how to truthfully and respectfully do that. Khaw is always a poet. She creates visceral experiences full of texture and emotion. A Song for Quiet is a jazz riff. It's tense, horrific, and grieves for human kind. If you've gone on to read Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom, I think you'll love this!