RaveSouthern ReviewI’m here to tell you that while you might successfully read every page in one sitting (and you’ll want to), it will take days to fully absorb their richness. When you read Laymon’s writing, you are engaging in a conversation that takes place both on and off the page. This is a book you will find yourself revisiting and discussing, with yourself and others, over and over ... Laymon approaches issues of race with a wide lens, encompassing both personal and social aspects, revealing that they are irreversibly intertwined — what happens socially shapes our personal lives, and vice versa. His narrative is unapologetic and fierce but never without a distinct lyricism and intentionality, even tenderness ... The influence of love — familial, romantic, fraternal, and particularly self-love — appears even in the most heated and despairing moments of the essays. Laymon probes the relationship with the self, often arriving at the conclusion that the absence of love leads to physical, emotional, and mental violence both suffered and inflicted on others – often in the form of racial and gender violence ... Black male feminism resounds throughout this collection. He steps outside of himself often to imagine the struggles of Black women with disarming candor and characteristic tenderness ... Black male feminism resounds throughout this collection. He steps outside of himself often to imagine the struggles of Black women with disarming candor and characteristic tenderness ... so, the discussion goes on, with Laymon inviting us to lean into the messiness of collaboration, to embrace the potential of revision with one another as well as ourselves — to keep the conversation going.
Ellen Birkett Morris
PositiveSouthern Review of BooksThe female characters in Lost Girls both startle and uplift us, but most importantly they demand to be seen ... While these stories do feature experiences of repression and loss, they do not focus so much on the traumas as the resilience of the women surviving them. A quiet defiance pulses throughout the work ... Through vivid snapshots of female struggle, Morris demonstrates the power of women acknowledging one another — and themselves — in a world where they are continually diminished.
