The Perishing, Natashia Deon
The Perishing, Natashia Deon
2 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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The Perishing

Author: Natashia Deón

Narrator: Kevin R. Free, Lisa Reneé Pitts

Unabridged: 11 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 11/09/2021


Synopsis

A Black immortal in 1930s Los Angeles seeks to recover the memory of her past in this visionary novel from NAACP Image Award nominee Natashia Deón

Lou, a young Black woman, wakes up in an alley in 1930s Los Angeles with no memory of how she got there or where she’s from. Taken in by a caring foster family, Lou dedicates herself to her education while trying to put her mysterious origins behind her. She’ll go on to become the first Black female journalist at the Los Angeles Times, but Lou’s extraordinary life is about to take an even more remarkable turn. When she befriends a firefighter at a downtown boxing gym, Lou is shocked to realize that though she has no memory of meeting him, she’s been drawing his face for years.

Increasingly certain that their paths previously crossed—and beset by unexplainable flashes from different eras haunting her dreams—Lou begins to believe she may be an immortal sent here for a very important reason, one that only others like her can explain. Setting out to investigate the mystery of her existence, Lou must make sense of the jumble of lifetimes calling to her, just as new forces threaten the existence of those around her.

Immersed in the rich historical tapestry of Los Angeles—Prohibition, the creation of Route 66, and the collapse of the St. Francis Dam—The Perishing is a stunning examination of love and justice through the eyes of one miraculous woman whose fate seems linked to the city she comes to call home.

“Remarkable, strange, and richly inventive, Natashia Deón’s The Perishing will keep you up all night and haunt you long afterward. Deón’s newest novel is a wonder and a feat.”—R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries

Reviews

Goodreads review by Christy

Is there a word for writing a review purely because other reviews made you mad? This is that. There should be a special circle of readerly hell reserved for those reviewers who don't know the difference between "this isn't what I needed/expected right now" and "this is bad." If you've read a bad rev......more

Goodreads review by Michael

October BOTM selection. Lou is a young Black woman who wakes up in an alley. The year is 1931. She has no clue who she is or how she got there. She’s quickly placed with a foster family, and ends up becoming one of the first Black female journalists for the Los Angeles Times shortly after graduating......more

Goodreads review by Taylor

This was a really tough read. I had an idea that THE PERISHING was going to be a really ambitious, interesting novel, but I don't think it came together in the way I was hoping it would. Or even in a way that made sense. The multiple POVs and time shifts could have been so compelling, could have told......more

Goodreads review by Andre

Wow. Ambitious. A combination of past, present, and future. A lot to unpack. So in that ambition is an inventiveness that demands an investment from the reader. Creating fans with her delicious prose always tinged with creative thoughts and dialogue. I am an enthusiastic fan of Natashia Deon, and I’......more