I’m judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

This, being a memoir, did not qualify for the fiction contest but I could not help but read it cover to cover once I began. Stunning prose. Deserves all the praise.
But there were things I went into the world not knowing. We did not talk about what to do when a boy was unkind, in words or actions, breaking my heart. I was lousy in the ways of healing. Mam had one true love in a country of women like her, whose sun took turns resting on their deep, dark skin. My true loves in our new country, by either inheritance or indoctrination, were taught that black women were the least among them. Loving me was an act of resistance, though many. did not know it. And Mam could not understand this feeling, the heaviness of it, to be loved as resistance, as an exception to a rule. To fight to be seen in love throughout the resistance. This was my new country.

I love memoirs and this one was exceptionally interesting. I do not know much about the First Liberian Civil War so I found that information to be particularly eye-opening and heartbreaking. It is also a great story of an American immigrant, and has the power to make people sympathize and see the suffering that people escaped to come to this country. I found the book to be very well written and look forward to reading other books by this author.

The Dragons, The Giant, the Women:  A Memoir by Wayétu Moore comprises of three parts. The first is from the perspective of five year old Wayétu in Liberia. The second section jumps forward to Wayétu as an immigrant in the United States. The third part unexpectedly jumps to the story of Wayétu's mother. A history I did not know and a story that once again documents the strength and resilience of individuals makes for a powerful read.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/12/the-dragons-giant-women.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

“The Dragons, the Giant, the Women” is a beautifully written memoir by Wayétu Moore.

It begins in the year 1990, during Moore’s fifth birthday party when a civil war breaks out. We experience Moore’s journey as she and her family flee their home in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. While the family is on the run, Moore and her young sisters are too young to understand what’s really going on. They think that the sounds of gunfire are drums beating and dragons fighting. Her father becomes the giant. And the bodies lying on the ground are people sleeping. Gratefully, Moore and her family find refuge in a village called Lai.

The story then pivots to Moore’s life, post-rescue, growing up as a Black girl in Texas. We follow her journey as she experiences being “other.” Thanks to her creative writing efforts and therapy sessions, she’s able to help manage her post-traumatic stress. As a young immigrant, she longs to understand her roots. So she returns to Liberia in search of the rebel soldier who rescued her family from Lai when she was a 5-year-old girl.

This memoir is not for the faint of heart. The subject matter addresses difficult subjects, including the stresses of war, racism and the separation of loved ones. It also requires concentration, empathy and emotional presence from the reader. Several times while reading, I found myself distracted and I had to go back to ensure I was following along.

While I read a gifted electronic copy via NetGalley (thank you!), I listened to a purchased copy of audiobook via Libro.fm. The narrator, Tovah Ott, did a remarkable job in bringing the voices of the Moore family to life. As always, I enjoy listening to native accents as it brings out the full color of the prose.

“The Dragons, the Giant, the Women,” is a fabulous, suspenseful, highly recommended page-turner.

The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is a beautifully written, complex look at Wayetu Moore's own story as well as the story of her family and one of many stories of Liberian refugees in the 1990s. Not only does Moore share the story of her family's journey out of Monrovia, she shows us snapshots of her self beyond her origins in Liberia from her her childhood and coming of age in the "colorblind" America of the 1990s and early 2000s, and experience as a young Black woman in the time of Black Lives Matters. I took great pleasure in going along on Moore's journey and hearing her story through her unique, periodically unexpected and truly brilliant prose.

** I received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

"Skin color was king - king above nationality, king above life stories, and, yes, even king above Christ"

Moore's memoir is moving, beautiful yet heartbreaking. From Liberian Civil War to immigration to America, we are transported into her life and the author drives us through a journey filled with Liberian culture. I was able to feel the effect of war trauma during Moore's childhood on her adulthood; also the hardships and racism that Moore suffered while trying to blend in the American culture/society and adjust to a new life. Once she was comfortable with her foreign identity, she started to struggle with the Liberian heritage. The subject of race is thoroughly explored in this memoir, as well as themes of war, family strength, resilience, mother-daughter relationship, cultural identity and immigrant's life.

The expressive and lavish language made her experiences so vivid that I could relate on a personal level. In addition, I was absorbed in a way that it felt like I was reading fiction. Read this memoir!

I expected a moving story but was utterly blown away by the stunning prose and rich descriptive detail. Truly a beautiful book through and through.

Memoirs are my favorite genre to read but also the hardest to review. Wayétu Moore's life, especially her early childhood, is as fascinating as it is appalling. Surrounded at such at young age by violence and upheaval and so little capacity to comprehend it. The writing structure was often malleable, shifting from part to part and bending to assist the themes. This was particularly effective in instilling the feelings of urgency and confusion in the reader. The author brilliantly executes the perspective of a small child adrift in a sea of violence. With allusion to Liberian folktales we can see how she as a child clung to familiar stories as a way to explain and understand her own new tumultuous position. I loved the inclusion of folktale in this memoir, in part because the folktales were new to me as a reader but also that it created a window through which you can see her own awe and terror at the world.

Similarly, the parts of the book about her adulthood are written with honesty and frankness but also with the disorientation of an adult still grappling with a traumatic past and a present that continues to wound. Wayétu Moore, as a black woman and an immigrant to the United States gave me a perspective I have not often heard and was certainly educational to me, if also painful to hear how her experience has been so disparate from my own.

On top of the author's use of structure, the prose throughout the entire book is just beautiful. The descriptions are sensory and unconventional, often combing things in metaphor I would never have associated but were nonetheless perfect for created a visceral reading experience. Of course, the story is worth reading in its own right. Wayétu has an incredible story to tell. One of family, loss, prejudice, love and war, in one's country and also within oneself. The Dragons, The Giant, The Women is a story of leaving, finding and returning home. An absolutely stunning book!