Heavy Audiobook By Kiese Laymon cover art

Heavy

An American Memoir

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Heavy

By: Kiese Laymon
Narrated by: Kiese Laymon
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*Selected as One of the Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times*

*Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Broadly, BuzzFeed (Nonfiction), The Undefeated, Library Journal (Biography/Memoirs), The Washington Post (Nonfiction), Southern Living (Southern), Entertainment Weekly, and The New York Times Critics*

In this powerful, provocative, and universally lauded memoir—winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal and finalist for the Kirkus Prize—genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon “provocatively meditates on his trauma growing up as a black man, and in turn crafts an essential polemic against American moral rot” (Entertainment Weekly).

In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to time in New York as a college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. Heavy is a “gorgeous, gutting…generous” (The New York Times) memoir that combines personal stories with piercing intellect to reflect both on the strife of American society and on Laymon’s experiences with abuse. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, he asks us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

“A book for people who appreciated Roxane Gay’s memoir Hunger” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable, an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family through years of haunting implosions and long reverberations. “You won’t be able to put [this memoir] down…It is packed with reminders of how black dreams get skewed and deferred, yet are also pregnant with the possibility that a kind of redemption may lie in intimate grappling with black realities” (The Atlantic).

Accolades & Awards

Audible Essentials
Memoir Essentials
Los Angeles Times Book Prize
2018
African American Studies Audible Essentials Los Angeles Times Book Prize Memoir Essentials Mental Health Awareness Biographies & Memoirs Specific Demographics Black & African American Thought-Provoking Nonfiction Social Sciences Biography Cultural & Regional Heartfelt United States Americas Inspiring Funny

Interview: Listen in as Kiese Laymon, whose emotionally compelling and nuanced narrative, Heavy, became the first memoir to win our Audiobook of the Year, talks about what it meant to voice his own story — both to him and the mother to whom he wrote it.

Heavy
The audiobook made my mama feel that book the way I wanted it to be felt.
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  • Heavy
  • The audiobook made my mama feel that book the way I wanted it to be felt.
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Featured Article: The Audible Essentials Top 100


The spirited (but friendly) debate over these titles could have gone on indefinitely. With years of listening, countless customer reviews, and a catalog of seemingly infinite great listens, 100 suddenly felt like a very small number. What we know for sure—each title that made it to this collection is elevated and made special in some way by audio, whether by a layered performance from a single narrator, a brilliantly cohesive full cast, original music, or immersive sound effects. Discover an audio experience for the ages.

Featured Article The Audible Essentials Top 100
Raw Honesty • Powerful Storytelling • Mesmerizing Narration • Profound Insights • Beautiful Prose • Emotional Depth

Highly rated for:

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I listened to the audible version read by the author. I found it to be beautiful and profound. It was like listening to a beautiful long poem. It was honest, painful, and intimate. I heard so much that I could feel in my bones, about addiction, loss, abuse, survival, recovery, and redemption. It called to mind my relationships, with myself, my family, my friends. It speaks of responsibility and insight. It especially speaks to White America and the damage we have doled and continue to inflict.I will listen again as I think there may be much I've missed and I really enjoyed the ride. This is a book that paid out from beginning to end. I'm sorry it ended. I still have so much to learn.

This will be a classic!

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Sometimes the truth is just the truth. Loved listening to Kiese read his book. Glad I listened to it instead of reading it. His writing has a lyricism to it that I think you would miss if you just read it. I cannot tell you how much I looked forward to listening to Kiese tell me about his life, his experiences, his feelings, worries, anger, and joys during my commute each day. I wanted (and still want) that happy ending for Kiese and his mother.

Sometimes the truth does not set you free

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Amazing book! It has been a long time since I FELT an author’s words like this. Didn’t want it to end. Blessings to you, Kiese Laymon. May every man, woman and child read this book. You make me proud!

Powerful!

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This memoir was beautifully written and passionately performed. I love it when the author narrates their story because they are able to bring certain parts of it to life like no one else can. Kiese Laymon chronicles his life in the modern South and at times it’s a reminder that not much has changed. I think this is an excellent read for young Black children who are growing up in the inner city especially young men. Although the settings are different, there’s a lot of relatable content and inspiration for them.

So poignant and beautifully written

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It helped me feel the weight he carried literally and metaphorically. The shame, the love, the violence, the compassion, ultimately the whole messy complicated hard truth of being an educated black man in America.

Listen to this book!

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