2023 Booker Longlist – If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

Next up for our panel is a debut novel by Johnathan Escoffery: If I Survive You

Jonathan Escoffery is no stranger to the literary world. His short stories have won several awards including the Plimpton Prize for fiction and 2020 ASME award for fiction. His work has appeared in the Paris Review, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, and American Short Fiction. He has taught creative writing at numerous well-renowned colleges and universities and he founded the Boston Writers of Color Group.

If I Survive You is his debut novel and has received high praise from reviewers and authors across the world.

Synopsis from Booker Prize website: In 1979, as political violence consumes their native Kingston, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami. But they soon learn that the welcome in America will be far from warm.

Trelawny, their youngest son, comes of age in a society that regards him with suspicion and confusion. Their eldest son Delano’s longing for a better future for his own children is equalled only by his recklessness in trying to secure it.

As both brothers navigate the obstacles littered in their path – an unreliable father, racism, a financial crisis and Hurricane Andrew – they find themselves pitted against one another. Will their rivalry be the thing that finally tears their family apart?

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Keep reading to find out how our panelists rated this book.

Four of our panelists (Lisa, Book Worm, Tracy, Nicole and Jen) reviewed this book. Here are our reviews:

Lisa’s Thoughts: My reactions to this book went up and down with each successive linked short story. These stories are told by different narrators, all members of one family, although the center of the book was the character of Trelawny.   I really liked the first story which centers on how the narrator (Trelawny) struggled with how others continually (re) defined his race and his difficulty fitting in with any particular group as a result. As a white woman, this is not something I’ve had much experience with. My attention lagged a bit in the middle, but then picked up as I read about now-college educated Trelawny’s struggles with homelessness— homelessness that is physical (he has no home) as well as psychological.  Although my favorite stories were the ones centered on Trelawny, I appreciated that interweaving of different perspectives to tell the story of the entire family.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 17/20

Book Worm’s Thoughts:  When I heard this was a collection of interconnected short stories I was immediately expecting to hate it, however all the stories focus on the same family so for me it read more like a novel and I was on board with that.

For me the strongest sections are the early Trelawny sections as he struggles with what it means to be Jamaican in America. Due to his light skin colour but dark curly hair he doesn’t fit in naturally with any of the “racial” groups despite others defining him as belonging so a specific group dependent on who is defining him and why. This struggle for identity really made me think as it is something I have never faced.

I enjoyed the second person narrative and I appreciated the Patois in certain sections of the story.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 16/20

Tracy’s Thoughts: This book was longlisted for the US National Book Award in 2022, and I read it way back then. I revisited it recently, so that I could remember what I read. 

The plot suffers- these are connected short stories. The main highlight of this collection is the second person narration. Otherwise, there are some gorgeous descriptions, some interesting characters, but nothing really outstanding. 

I think this author has potential, if his next work takes on some edge. This one played it too safe. 

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 2.5/4
Plot: 2/4
Enjoyment: 1.5/2
Total: 13/20

Jen’s Thoughts: This was a hard book for me to review. I really disliked the start of it but by the end, I found a lot to appreciate in the book. The question of “what are you”, a question that permeates the novel, is one I’ve had to deal with over the course of my own life. I’m half Costa Rican and half European American and I’ve always lived in the margins trying to navigate my own ethnic identity. So I connected with that element of the book. However, because I’ve spent a lot of time considering these issues, I found the first story to be very academic and felt more like a sociology chapter than literature. As I read on, I found myself appreciating how the framework set up in the first story weaved its way throughout the rest of the book. Stylistically, I think the author did some interesting and clever things with his use of second person perspective, use of present tense interspersed with conditional tense and patois. These writing choices reflected the identity crises of the protagonists and were pretty witty.

Another thing I appreciated about the book was the ways in which father-son relationships were examined and how those relationships were also impacted by cultural and racial norms. It was a rather bleak book and I can’t say I particularly enjoyed reading it but I did appreciate the reading experience and the ways in which the author forced me to reflect on certain topics.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 1/2
Total: 15/20

Nicole’s Thoughts: I am not a short story person and “linked” short stories are only a slight improvement. That being said, this book had some things going for it that I enjoyed as much as you can enjoy something which is inherently uneven. In my case, though, I have a great affection for Jamaica and spent a lot of time there in my life, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.

Obviously dealt with racism, and the slightly more subtle colorism – acceptance of yourself and by others. Missing/abusive parents, poverty, survival … you know, all the themes. Some of the stories and writing were really good, and some missed. But in terms of Booker ’23 it’s been one of the stronger books for me so far, though that isn’t saying a lot.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 2/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 15/20

Have you read this one? Let us know what you thought.

Our panel’s Rankings:

1. If I survive you: 15.2
2. Old God’s Time: 13.20