Thot
Reckon, "Black Joy: 2022 Best of Books"
"Those of us who have been following her work for a while have known Reid would come flying out of the gates and, well, here is the emphatic proof.”—Laird Hunt, National Book Award finalist for Zorrie
Thot is a ground-breaking, fast paced, book length essay that experiments with poetry, dialogue, and memoir. At its epicenter are two competing forces. One is Chanté’s upbringing in the splendor, density, rhythms, and madness of Bronx, NY, including the murder of Chante’s neighbor, Deborah Danner, killed by a police officer during his break-in. The other is Reid’s academic life at Brown University, where she is completing a critical thesis on Toni Morrison’s book, Beloved. Its characters—Sethe, Denver, Margeret Garner—wind in and out of the conversation, as do the Medea and Narcissus of Greek myths. Thot is a thrilling cacophony, a highly original mix of genre and voice, sure to please readers in search of something startling and new.
Chanté Reid is a writer from the Bronx, New York. She holds writing degrees from both Brooklyn College and Brown University, and has been an adjunct instructor up and down New England.
