01/22/2024
Attorney Savage sets forth an affecting ode to her late mother and grandmother in this stirring debut collection. Savage was raised in Brooklyn by her grandmother, Annie McKinney, while her mother, Cheryl, shuffled in and out of prison as she grappled with addiction and bipolar disorder. When Savage was 28, McKinney developed Alzheimer’s, and Savage stepped in as her caretaker until she died. A few years later, Savage and her mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer; Savage survived, but her mother did not. In these essays, Savage turns her relationships with both women over and over in the light: “Searching for Salvation in Antioch,” the strongest piece, sees Savage trying to understand how her feminism fits in with her grandmother’s beloved Pentecostal Church (“Women make up the majority of most Black churches.... And yet many churches preach sexism and misogyny and violence towards women”). In “The Things She Left Behind,” the author frames her hoarding—of documents, photographs, clothes, cassette tapes, unfinished food—as a method of coping with her losses. While each entry contains deep feeling, the collection really sings when it’s focused on the radiant bond between Savage and her grandmother—she’s less able to make her mother an indelible presence on the page. Still, readers grappling with personal loss will find comfort and sensitivity in these pages. Agent: Mariah Stovall, Trellis Literary. (Nov.)
"In this impassioned and unforgettable collection of essays, Jodi M. Savage explores the joy, beauty, and sadness that fill the lives of three generations of women, some who love too much, and others struggling to love and be loved. Telling her own astonishing story, along with her mother's and grandmother’s, Savage’s essays are filled with the hard-earned wit and wisdom of a writer on a revelatory journey that makes us laugh out loud while also moving us to tears. You will read these essays again and again, just to remain a bit longer in Savage's delightful and healing company." — Edwidge Danticat, author of Brother, I'm Dying and Everything Inside, winner of the 2023 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Story Prize, and the 2020 Vilcek Prize in Literature
“Throughout, Savage writes as if speaking with a friend, relating her experiences, and that of others, with sincerity. Readers of all backgrounds are certain to appreciate her struggles and her ability to cope with the challenges she has faced. Raw, honest, and heartbreaking.” — Kirkus Reviews
"As someone who was raised by both my mother and my grandmother, I was laid bare by Jodi Savage’s tender and tumultuous recounting of her relationships with her mother and grandmother. The moving essays in The Death of a Jaybird are at once beautifully singular and representative of Black women’s experiences coping with love, loss, and grief." — Deesha Philyaw, author, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, LA Times Book Prize, and finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction
"In this collection of poignant and beautifully rendered essays, the wholeness of relationships between mothers and daughters comes alive in their true complexity, whether holding their volatility or their immense teachings of love. This book pulses like a bold, beating heart, and Jodi M. Savage's wit, profound humanity and abiding love for her foremothers illuminate how harrowing forces of religion, drug-addiction, and life-threatening illness—reflect not only how things have been, but offer a chance to reimagine what the future can be." — Tanaïs, author of In Sensorium: Notes for My People, winner of the 2022 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction
"Savage's writing is honest, nuanced, and thoughtful as she shares her grief and eventual coming to understanding, forgiveness, and peace. In African American lore, a jaybird's death is a sudden, unexpected, and brutal act; as reinterpreted by Savage's grandmother, dying the death of a jaybird meant experiencing an ultimate, horrifically embarrassing episode. Savage deftly explores these extremes and other vicissitudes of life with wit and grace." — Booklist (starred review)
"It's one thing to grieve one's mother after she has died, quite another to grieve her even as she lives. In this witty and moving collection centered on the complicated love between three generations of Black women, Jodi Savage does both with compassion and grace. The Death of a Jaybird is a timely reminder about the power of narrative to soothe our souls." — Kim McLarin, author of Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed
"The Death of a Jaybird is an exquisite and moving meditation on mothering and care across generations, on the complicated power of Black spiritualities and communities, and on resiliency in the face of trauma, illness, and grieving. Savage offers an unforgettable portrait of Black Pentecostal faith through her account of her grandmother's life, love, and lessons." — Judith Weisenfeld, Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion and Chair, Department of Religion, Princeton University
“Jodi Savage’s debut essay collection is a moving testament to her matriarchal lineage and a refreshingly honest account of what it’s like to move through grief, love, and resilience. She writes about the complicated spaces one occupies as a daughter and granddaughter with grace, wit, and a faith that can only be found in words.” — Michele Filgate, editor of What My Mother and I Don't Talk About
"In this masterful memoir-in-essays, Jodi Savage pays tribute to the indomitable spirit of her grandmother, whose fiery Pentecostal faith is only matched by her abiding love for her granddaughter. With razor-sharp wit and a compassionate eye, Savage explores her journey away from her childhood faith, her path to healing from breast cancer, and her tumultuous relationship with her mother, whose battle with addiction tested their bonds. Deeply grounded in the reality of what it is to be a Black woman in America, The Death of a Jaybird is a testimony to the redemptive strength of radical acceptance. Savage’s clear-eyed love for her complicated family radiates from the page." — Jessica Wilbanks, author of When I Spoke in Tongues
"(Death of a Jaybird) is a heartfelt and poignant debut that firmly stamps the author’s entry into the literary landscape." — Shondaland.com
"Savage’s dexterous interventions into experiences of Black life and loss join a growing pile of works by authors creatively reimagining the relationship between grief and writing, including Elizabeth Alexander, Lorene Cary, Edwidge Danticat, Natasha Trethewey and Jesmyn Ward." — Washington Post
2023-08-25
A collection of essays exploring the experiences of Black women in America.
In addition to her compelling personal story, Savage, a writer and attorney, focuses on Black women who have faced the effects of abuse, addiction, and loss. Due to her mother’s drug problems and the other “demons” she battled throughout her life, the author was raised in Brooklyn by her grandmother. Granny, Savage called her, was very religious and even considered herself a prophet. Over time, however, the author became bitter and jaded toward her grandmother’s faith. “Much of religion,” she writes, “is a tower constructed to protect male egos and privilege.” She continues, “I didn’t need the Bible to tell me about my place in the world. And I was tired of keeping quiet about the things that hurt me.” Savage also shares the fact that “Granny, my mother, and I were all sexually abused as children,” and she is adamant about her desire to stop the cycle of abuse. When Granny developed Alzheimer’s, Savage took on the responsibility of caring for her. She writes candidly about the pain of losing a loved one even before that person is gone and reveals that she hoarded her grandmother’s belongings as a means of preserving her memory. Following Granny’s death, Savage and her mother were diagnosed with breast cancer, and she ended up losing her mother as well. Other essays examine stereotypes and assumptions that she and other Black women in America face on a daily basis in their encounters with police, treatment by medical doctors, and other situations. Throughout, Savage writes as if speaking with a friend, relating her experiences, and that of others, with sincerity. Readers of all backgrounds are certain to appreciate her struggles and her ability to cope with the challenges she has faced.
Raw, honest, and heartbreaking.
