One of my 2026 goals was to to do a buddy read and I decided a fun way to do it was to go local. Sarah lives close to me and she posted late in 2025 a list of books she wanted to read in the first quarter of 2026 and one of those book was Kin by Tayari Jones. It just so happened that I also wanted to read Kin, so we met up twice over the last few weeks and talked about it.
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| Sarah's copy from Book of the Month. |
What we have here is the story of two black girls, both without mothers, who grow up in the small town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana. One heads off to college, the other heads off to whorehouses and smoky bars. But their lives remain interconnected as we follow them.
I was a bit nervous to read this book because I heard it was about mother/daughter and sister relationships and that's a bit of a sore spot for me. But I like Tayari Jones so much that I decided to just go for it.
Look, this book was so good. The characters are full and interesting and contradictory and make decisions that are both smart and foolish. They do dumb things in the name of love, they suffer from actions taken by others years before they were born, and they make you question what is right and what should cause shame.
My favorite thing about Tayari Jones is her observational writing and how funny she can be.
Consider the following:
This was Louisiana in 1941. We were colored. Something was always wrong. (location 184)
I never did without. I was always tidy and well lotioned. (location 218)
“Don’t ever let no man murder you,” she said. “If you let a man kill you, I will not bring you flower the first.” (location 264)
Bobo had some strange short-dude magic that earned him panties for days. (location 991)
An “I love you” that is out in the world unanswered bedevils a space, like the ghost of a whore in Mississippi. (location 3473)
I used the word “motherfucker,” which wasn’t like me at all. But it’s the sort of word that, if you need it, no other word will do. (location 3856)
...he was as ordinary as a pan of cornbread. (location 4011)
"...He insisted on moving through the world penis-first. Bet he won’t do that again.” (location 4016)
...worked for his in-laws as a mediocre accountant. (location 4804)
I just feel like these are all funny - some in a dark way, but funny nonetheless - and point out real truths that you may or may not have even considered before. How come there are so many short dudes who have such crazy charisma? How do you know by looking at someone that they're a mediocre accountant? I don't know, but Jones captures all of it.
Anyway, I liked this one so much. It took her seven years to write this book and I understand why. 4.5/5 stars
Lines of note:
I felt like a dump truck, chunky and sturdy. (location 390)
LOLOL. I don't know why, but her descriptions of people are hysterical to me.
Luggage was one of the few hand-me-down items that became a little more dignified due to its wear and tear. (location 606)
Such great observational writing.
In all these years, she had never said a word that would dirty the wash water. But secrets, apparently, she was good at. There with Miss Jemison, I struggled to decide if secrets and lies were twins, regular sisters, or just cousins. (location 729)
Ha ha. When I get my eyebrows waxed, my stylist always talks about how they should be cousins, not sisters.
I didn’t even say she had died, because that was something a person did. A person lived; a person died. I said she was dead because that’s forever. That’s what she was. My mother was dead. (location 2950)
Active versus passive, right?
Like you, I always wanted a mother and I guess I have one now. And having a mother involves letting her down, or so it appears. (location 4451)
HA HA HA HA! Ain't that the truth.
Things I looked up:
cuckabugs (location 388) - tiny, really tight naps on the back of someone's neck. They are very difficult to comb through and are usually shaved off - this might be the first time I've had to cite Urban Dictionary on my site
Maybe he was cute, in a Jackie Wilson kind of way. (location 548) - Jackie Wilson was a singer. He sang "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher."
siddity (location 617 and then repeatedly throughout the book) - Uppity, pretentious, stuck-up, conceited. Acting as if you are better than someone else. To "put on airs." Often preceded by the word "high." - Two for Urban Dictionary in this post alone.
Jim Walter home (location 870) - Jim Walter Homes were "shell" homes, meaning the company would complete the outside so that the house was watertight, then allow the customer to finish the inside with their own labor. The company would also sell most of the inside materials, including sheetrock, insulation, doors and carpet to the customer and include them in the purchase. The result was very affordable mortgage payments, usually for 20 years. The only requirement from the company was that the customer had owned the land on which the house was constructed, meaning that in the case of foreclosure the company got not only a (potentially never-finished) house but a building lot as well. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, when mortgage rates went as high as 15%, Jim Walter offered 10% financing with no money down.
Dovey Roundtree (location 1764 and 4984) - an African-American civil rights activist, ordained minister, and attorney. Her 1955 victory before the Interstate Commerce Commission in the first bus desegregation case to be brought before the ICC resulted in the only explicit repudiation of the "separate but equal" doctrine in the field of interstate bus transportation by a court or federal administrative body. That case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company (64 MCC 769 (1955)), which Dovey Roundtree brought before the ICC with her law partner and mentor Julius Winfield Robertson, was invoked by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy during the 1961 Freedom Riders' campaign in his successful battle to compel the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its rulings and end Jim Crow laws in public transportation.
Raynelle Jemison is penning this letter on my behalf, because “Uncle Arthur” is bedeviling my wrists. (location 2049) - I don't know? Maybe arthritis? Gout? Urban Dictionary let me down. I suspect arthritis because of the Arth- connection. Anyone know?
Being a motherless child is so bad that they wrote a slavery song about it. (location 3457) - "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" is a traditional African American spiritual dating back to the era of slavery, often expressing deep sorrow and longing for freedom. It has been covered by numerous artists in various genres, including Mahalia Jackson, Eric Clapton, and Odetta, and is often used as a protest song. I am so ignorant about music and art! And birds. And trees. And geography.
chichi birds (location 3521) - Chickadees? (There's a food truck called Chichi Birds Hot Chicken in San Antonio.)
LeMoyne-Owen (location 3897) - HBCU affiliated with the United Church of Christ and located in Memphis, Tennessee that had a total enrollment of approximately 646 students as of fall 2023
“CP Time.” (location 4485) - Colored People's Time (also abbreviated to CP Time or CPT) is an American expression referring to African Americans as frequently being late. Egads.
Daufuskie Island (location 4473) - a remote, bridgeless South Carolina sea island between Savannah and Hilton Head, accessible only by boat (ferries, water taxis). Renowned for its Gullah history, pristine beaches, and laid-back culture, it is navigated primarily by golf cart. The Gullah (or Gullah Geechee) are descendants of enslaved Africans from West and Central Africa who developed a unique, preserved culture in the coastal Lowcountry and Sea Islands of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Due to historic geographic isolation, they retained strong African traditions in their language, foodways, arts, and spiritual practices.
mighty Zambezi hurling over a cliff (location 4945) - The Zambezi is Africa's fourth-longest river (approx. 2,700 km), flowing from northwestern Zambia through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique into the Indian Ocean. The Zambezi is known for the spectacular Victoria Falls
Hat mentions (why hats?):
Mr. Daniel held his stingy-brim hat in his hand. (location 554)
My aunt was fashionable in a baby-pink suit and netted pillbox hat. (location 1110)
He took off his hat, revealing an angry red line above his brows. (location 1175)
half-moon hat with a little silk flower perched over her ear (location 1232)
He shook his head and removed his hat (location 1695)
Now Bobo put his hat over his heart. (location 1697)
He sometimes tipped an imaginary hat and said, “Mademoiselle Mouse.” (location 2099)
He removed the leather hat. (location 2605)
felt hat to protect my hairdo (location 2719)
My mama swapped mine for a felt hat and a pair of gloves. (location 2838)
"...That’s why you will never see me with a hat on my head. I don’t care if it’s a funeral. Fuck a hat.” (location 2838)
The sidewalk was littered with playing cards, causing a lady in a brown hat to take clumsy steps to avoid touching them with her suede shoe. (location 3196)
flat-topped hats with gold braid over the brim (location 4500)
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THE GIVEAWAY!!
Sarah and I met at a small town about halfway between our homes last weekend to talk about the book and go shopping at adorable shops. One of the places we went was to a bookstore. And this bookstore was having an event where you could buy a wrapped book with a description on it and decorate it with fun add-ons for an incredibly reasonable price. It's a fun blind date with a book sort of thing.
Imagine our glee.
And the giveaway is this lovely package.
Genre: Contemporary/Family Secrets
Age: Adult
Teaser: Fame, identity, and hidden history collide in unexpected ways.
If you want a chance to win this beauty, fill out this Google Form by May 6. I just ask for your name and email with a bonus, non-required question for you to guess the title of the book. I actually don't know the title of the book and will not ever know unless the winner tells me.
I'll email and announce the winner on May 8 and ship it out as soon as I can. I'll happily ship internationally, as well, so non-US folks can enter, as well.
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Do you like Tayari Jones as much as I do? What do you think the secret book is based on that description?
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