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Long Division

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available
Long Division contains two interwoven stories. In the first, it's 2013: after an on-stage meltdown during a nationally televised quiz contest, fourteen-year-old Citoyen "City" Coldson becomes an overnight YouTube celebrity. The next day, he's sent to stay with his grandmother in the small coastal community of Melahatchie, where a young girl named Baize Shephard has recently disappeared. Before leaving, City is given a strange book without an author called Long Division. He learns that one of the book's main characters is also named City Coldson-but Long Division is set in 1985. This 1985 City, along with his friend and love-object, Shalaya Crump, discovers a way to travel into the future and steals a laptop and cell phone from an orphaned teenage rapper called . . . Baize Shephard. They ultimately take these with them all the way back to 1964, to help another time-traveler they meet protect his family from the Klan. City's two stories ultimately converge in the mysterious work shed behind his grandmother's, where he discovers the key to Baize's disappearance.
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    • AudioFile Magazine
      The audiobook version of the novel by Kiese Laymon explores racism, post- Katrina life in Mississippi and the unintended consequences of time travel. Narrator Sean Crisden can not be faulted for his performance as the young hero, a 14-year-old Black youth with the unique name of Citoyen Coldson who discovers a hole in the woods that allows him to travel through time. His guide is a mysterious book called "Long Division" which hints at the secrets of the universe. But the story is not as elegant or concise as "The Time Traveler's Wife," and tends to bounce around. Crisden is as convincing in his performance as the youth than as the elderly grandmother, or the many other characters in the novel. His range extends from troubled inner-city youth to college-educated adult without missing a beat. The work is certainly interesting, but has the usual logic problems associated with any book about time travel. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 3, 2013
      Two not-quite-parallel threads run through Laymon's meandering debut novel: the first, the story of young Mississippi high-schooler Citoyen, a.k.a. "City"; the second, chapters from a book he finds about a young Mississippi high-schooler of the same name, who, it seems, is him in a different time period. City is something of a typical inner-city teenage protagonistâsharp-witted and sharp-tongued, yet sensitive and observantâso his uncharacteristic outburst and the ensuing repercussions that give the novel its initial momentum seem implausible. The novel takes a fantastical turn, and occasionally Laymon's workings stand out a little too clearly. This selective adherence to the "rules" of writing happens on a larger scale: the novel within a novel goes unexplainedâand unquestioned by Cityâfor so long it's as though the author is ignoring his own subject matter to keep pages turning. Those trusting Laymon to provide answers will find a curious, enjoyable novel. However, readers who believe authors must address a text's pressing concerns as they make demands upon the readerânot when the author decides he wants toâwill find this novel more trying. Though its real-world sections take relish in skewering the disingenuous masquerade of institutional racism, the book's interest in fantasy elements serves as an easier, less interesting, way out.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 9, 2021
      In this revised and improved edition of Laymon’s visionary debut novel (after the memoir Heavy), Blackness, language, and love frame a complex metafictional and time-traveling story about the legacy of racism. Fourteen-year-old Citoyen “City” Coldson, from Jackson, Miss., is one of two Black students competing in a nationally televised grammar contest in 2013 (the other is named LaVander Peeler). When City finds out the contest is rigged, he goes on an on-camera rant and becomes Internet-famous overnight. In the aftermath, City’s parents send him to live with his grandmother, and he brings with him a book titled Long Division, which has no author credited. Laymon then plunges readers into the pages of City’s book, in which the protagonist, also named City, time travels from 1985 with a friend to 2013. There, they meet Baize Shephard, whose parents disappeared during Hurricane Katrina. The three teens then travel to 1964 to save City’s grandfather from the KKK. While the time shifts can be confusing, historical moments such as Katrina and Freedom Summer help give grounding, as does strong characterization. At times humorous (when City feels insecure around LaVander, he calls him “Lavender” or “Fade Don’t Fade”) and often tragic, this coming-of-age story makes clear the characters’ struggle for self-determination under systemic racism. It’s a challenging work, and worth the effort. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Sometimes metafiction--shape shifting, self-referential, time bending--can seem like a party favor. While it possesses many meta elements, this satisfying audiobook is at once a comic romp, a satire of fame in the Internet Age, and a look at race--set in rural Mississippi. This is the 2021 revision of the debut novel from Laymon, whose more recent memoir, HEAVY, was much lauded. The performances are masterful--persuasive, well paced and convincing. Ruffin Prentiss delivers the more linear first part, which includes a comic meltdown by protagonist City Colson on a televised quiz show. Jaime Lincoln Smith delivers the second part, in which the protagonist time travels with a mysterious book entitled LONG DIVISION in hand. Laymon is smitten with language, and this metafiction is fun. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

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  • English

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