Welcome to Braggsville: A Novel | 
pickFour zealous Berkeley ugrads return to D‘Aron‘s hometown of Braggsville, GA to protest a Civil War reenactment by staging a fake lynching. All goes terribly wrong in an ending that both shocks & is the only possible end. Social satire skewering all & everyone: elite academic blather, militant anti-intellectuals, Klansmen, activists. All in an accelerated hip-hop riff loaded w/ academic theory, pop culture, Southern Gothic twang. Leaves a mark.2015
I have been slogging through this book for weeks. I want to like it, and I think it has some important things to say, but it just goes on and on. I‘m persevering.
so-so😕
Interesting idea: 4 idealistic Berkeley students go to a small town in Georgia to stage a “performative protest” of a Civil War re-enactment.
Unfortunately, this fell prey to Iowa Writer‘s Workshop Syndrome. The author loves to indulge in academic tangents that only serve to distract the reader from his actual relevant points.
“His sophomore fall was without incident, but halfway through his sophomore spring, everything changed.”
pickI‘m still processing this one, but definitely enjoyed it.
4/5
It‘s almost midnight, what better time to start my next one?
My Kindle is at 10% and I forgot my charger 8 hours away from home :(
I had a hard time with this because of the lack of quotation marks on dialogue but man, what a thought-provoker.
#multiethnic #junebookbugs
@CaroPi Thank you so much for the wonderful books and journal. I'm really looking forward to the tagged book ❤️ @BookishMarginalia as usual thanks for organising another great swap #SummerSolsticeBookExchange #SummerSantaGoesPostal
Cool idea @saguarosally !
1. A vacation day near Sequoia National Park 🌲🌲🌲
2. I heard about it from the @bookriot team, esp, @Liberty
3. Everything, Everything
4. Yes, his name was Loosebooty.
#welcomelittens #books #booklovers #booknerds
I definitely have a thing for #blackandwhitecovers. There's beauty in monochrome simplicity. This is just a small sampling of some of my favorites. 🖤#maybookflowers
pickFour college students from Berkeley embark on a protest of a small Southern town's Civil War reenactment in this scathing social satire that takes on racism, sexism, and homophobia. Lots of unexpected twists. The writing style is a bit unconventional and takes some getting used to, but definitely worth it for the story. It reminded me of Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
so-soI finished this quite a while ago but still haven't decided how I feel about it. The writing style didn't work for me (I'm a girl that needs her quotation marks...) but the story was such an interesting one.
Why must I live a life that prevents me from reading all day, every day? I will finish this one tonight! !
so-soA beautiful yet hot mess. Plenty of twists, but ultimately unsatisfying because at every turn I was hoping he'd go in the exact opposite direction. What did the protagonist learn about himself or the world? What do the readers learn? I guess the writer didn't set out to answer those questions. Frustrating. Story: Pan. Writing: Pick. Never have I had such a bipolar reaction to a book.
#day4 #photoadaynov16 #setinasmalltown I know that parts of these book are in San Francisco but the most important parts are in Braggsville.. Listen only good things about this book and is in my TBR for a long time.
pickThe unique writing style makes it a little hard to follow at times and the characters are almost unbearable, but the story itself is interesting and filled with enough twists to keep you reading.
🎶Daddy said not to go downtown. Like I said, you're free to go.🎶 #Hamilton #SchuylerSisters #AndPeggy
🎶Daddy said not to go downtown. Like I said, you're free to go.🎶
pick#FunPhotoFriday One of the best books I read last year, this follows four young college friends at Berkeley and offers both scathing satire and sensitive insight into the modern day college experience. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had to bail on this one. Just not doing it for me. Trying too hard.
pickWelcome to Braggsville shocked, delighted, and hit me right where it hurt. D‘aron, a white Southern teen, escapes his small town for the UC Berkeley campus and experiences culture shock at its finest. Bizarre, heart-breaking, cringe-inducing...this quickly became one of my favorites.
— Rachel
pick"I LOVED this book and Johnson's ability to capture what it feels like to be young and invincible...I definitely knew these characters in college. Johnson's dark, comedic voice (and slang, I mean dude even added a lexicon!) is perfect for this vice-grip of a novel."
@KiskyLuella staff pick!
Whoever grabs WELCOME TO BRAGGSVILLE from my Little Free Library is a lucky soul!
Book haul from the library: two books, three audiobooks, two comics, and one movie!
pickI got to this book way late, but my love is real.
