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Why it matters
Mott mixes publishing satire with grief to examine visibility and racial violence.
Opening the archive
2021 selection · Literary fiction
Hell of a Book
A Black author tours the country while an apparently imaginary child accompanies him. His surreal journey alternates with a bullied boy’s life and news of a police killing.
02
Read this if…
You like metafiction that shifts between comedy and heartbreak.
03
Ideas inside
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James
- National Book Award for Fiction
- NPR Books We Love
- +1
Everett retells Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through Jim’s eyes, revealing a literate man forced to perform a demeaning persona. The river becomes a route toward family and freedom.
The Underground Railroad
- National Book Award for Fiction
- The New York Times — 10 Best Books
- +1
Cora escapes a Georgia plantation through a literal underground railway and crosses states embodying different racial terrors. A slave catcher follows as each refuge proves conditional.
The Book of Form and Emptiness
- Women’s Prize for Fiction
After his father dies, Benny Oh hears voices from objects while his mother struggles with grief and hoarding. A library and the voice of his own Book offer refuge.