Our Gen, Diane McKinneyWhetstone
Our Gen, Diane McKinneyWhetstone
List: $23.99 | Sale: $16.79
Club: $11.99

Our Gen
A Novel

Author: Diane McKinney-Whetstone

Narrator: Janina Edwards

Unabridged: 7 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Amistad

Published: 07/05/2022


Synopsis

“Our Gen is warm and smart, accessible yet meaningful, a beach read with strong writing and emotional heft.”—BookPageResidents of an active-living retirement community revert to lives of youthful indulgence, even as time-bomb secrets of their pasts tick toward explosion. The Gen—short for Sexagenarian—is an upscale fifty-five-plus community located in the bucolic suburbs of Philadelphia. Main character Cynthia befriends the Gen’s two other Black residents, Bloc and Tish, as well as Lavia, who everyone assumes is from India. They regularly convene to smoke weed, line dance, and debate politics and philosophy as the wine goes down like silk. Their camaraderie is exhilarating. But beneath the fun and froth, storms gather. With its walls of windows gushing light and air, the Gen becomes the catalyst for secrets to be exposed. Shifting the narrative between the characters’ pasts and the present day, Diane McKinney-Whetstone deftly builds suspense as she captures with insight, poignancy, and humor, the scars, tenderness, and swagger of those not yet old, but no longer young, coming to the mean acceptance that life is finite after all, who knew. 

About Diane McKinney-Whetstone

Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Our Gen, Tumbling, Lazaretto, Tempest Rising, Blues Dancing, Leaving Cecil Street, and Trading Dreams at Midnight. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award for Fiction, which she won twice. A past lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, her work has appeared in the Atlantic, Essence Philadelphia magazine, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her husband.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andre on July 01, 2022

Yes. A truly adult novel. Diane McKinney-Whetstone has crafted a wonderful story that looks at aging but not rushing in headlong. The story has four central characters but Cynthia is the main character and when she leaves her big house In Philadelphia to move into the Gen, a 55+ senior community in......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on September 24, 2023

Reading Our Gen had me feeling like I was meddling in grown folks business! Diane McKinney-Whetstone has put my mind at ease for what could be waiting for me over the hill. If this story is anything to go by, there's weed, laughter and love waiting on the other side. Our Gen follows 4 entertaining se......more

Goodreads review by Read In Colour on August 01, 2022

A little disappointing in comparison to her other books......more

Goodreads review by Shanice on June 27, 2022

Diane McKinney-Whetstone hasn’t disappointed me yet! This is the third novel I’ve read by this talented author, and it was just as captivating as the first two. Set in the suburbs of Philadelphia, this story is centered around the lives of four residents of a retirement community called The Gen. The......more

Goodreads review by Shannan on July 30, 2022

Diane McKinney Whetsone has been a favorite author of mine since Tumbleing and I am so glad she came out with another book. Although I'm a little ways from the characters in the story, this was such a jaw dropping read of a group of individuals living in a senior citizens over 55 community. Not only......more