Reading guide: If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

In 1979, as political violence consumes their native Kingston, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami. But they soon learn that the welcome in America will be far from warm. Trelawny, their youngest son, comes of age in a society that regards him with suspicion and confusion. Their eldest son Delano’s longing for a better future for his own children is equalled only by his recklessness in trying to secure it.  

As both brothers navigate the obstacles littered in their path – an unreliable father, racism, a financial crisis and Hurricane Andrew – they find themselves pitted against one another. Will their rivalry be the thing that finally tears their family apart? 

His debut, If I Survive You, announces Jonathan Escoffery as a skilled chronicler of American life at its most gruesome and hopeful.

Jonathan Escoffery is the recipient of the Paris Review’s 2020 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction. His fiction has appeared in the Paris Review, American Short Fiction and Electric Literature, and has been anthologised in The Best American Magazine Writing. 

He received his MFA from the University of Minnesota, is a PhD fellow in the University of Southern California’s PhD in Creative Writing and Literature Program, and in 2021 was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in the Creative Writing Program at Stanford University. His debut, If I Survive You, is shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023.

If I Survive You has an unusual structure for a Booker Prize-nominated title, as a collection of short stories with an interconnected narrative. Why do you think the author favours this fragmented approach over more straightforward long-form writing? And how does this approach serve the overarching plot of If I Survive You? 

‘If you marry she, you will have garden wedding, and you will design your suit and pay tailor to stitch it nice.’ (Page 49). Much of the book is written in second person, which invites the reader into the story and creates a connection with characters. Yet the author, Jonathan Escoffery, also uses first and third-person narrative, too. Why do you think he switches perspective throughout the collection, and how did this serve your reading experience?

The collection begins in the 1970s Caribbean, following the family as they emigrate to Miami, with the story expanding into the preceding decades. Throughout this, the author incorporates real-world events such as Hurricane Andrew and the 2008 recession. How does the addition of these pivotal moments in history cultivate an authentic sense of place and time? 

‘You’re a rather pale shade of brown, if skin color has anything to do with race. Your parents share your hue. As do their parents. Their parents, your great-grands, occupy your family’s photo albums in black-and-white and sepia tones that conceal the color of their skin. Some look like they might guest-appear on The Jeffersons, while others look like they’d sooner be cast on All in the Family.’ (Page 10). Much of If I Survive You is concerned with the complex nuances of identity with regards to ‘Blackness’. Discuss the conversation the author is creating around this – from colourism to nationality, accents and names – throughout the collection. 

The second story, titled ‘Under the Ackee Tree’, is narrated by Trelawny and Delano’s father and written in Jamaican Patois. ‘If a Reyha you pick, you will carry she to drive- in, where you can stroke she hair while unoo watch Bond ’pon big screen.’ (Page 47). Discuss why the author has chosen to leverage dialect and write in this manner. Did you think it brought authenticity to the prose?

‘In your fifth-grade history section, you learn more about the founding of America. You learn about the subject referred to simply as “slavery.” It’s an abbreviated, watered-down lesson, much like its subject heading. It’s: Mostly good people made a big mistake. It’s: That was a long, long time ago. It’s: Honest Abe and Harriet Tubman and M.L.K. fixed all that nasty business. It’s: Now we don’t see race.’ (Page 8). Discuss the significance of this moment with regard to the novel’s overarching messages on immigration and racism. Prior to your reading of this, what was your perspective of the transatlantic slave trade and do you think it has been whitewashed in history? 

The story also explores Black masculinity. ‘I’m interested in what models we have for being good men, and in what potentially damaging messages we send men about how to be in the world, and in how those messages get passed from one generation to the next,’ Jonathan Escoffery recently said when interviewed by the Booker Prizes website. Did you find the author’s portrayal of the Black male experience affecting? And do Trelawny and Delano succeed in breaking toxic cycles?  

The Booker Prize judges described the novel as having ‘remorseless, laugh-out-loud code switching’. This book could be described as tragi-comedic, with a humour that tempers heavier topics including racism, classism and poverty. How does this use of humour help readers navigate the more harrowing elements of the story? Do you think it risks detracting from the serious subject matter at any point? 

‘“It’s so true,” the third, a brown-haired woman, says. “Just because my mother is Jewish, all of a sudden I’m treated like I’m not White here.” “Oh, you’re White.” The Mexican places a sympathetic hand on the brown- haired woman’s arm. “Don’t worry.” “Aw, you’re White, too,” she says, returning the arm pat. “I’m White,” the Argentine says.’ (Page 28). At a student party in the story ‘In Flux’, three women reassure each other that they are ‘white’. Discuss the importance of this label to them, and why in this case, it transcends nationality or religion. 

The protagonists in the collection are chasing the American Dream, yet, as immigrants, the power dynamics in the book are often skewed against them and they remain in a cycle of generational poverty. To what extent do you think the US is a place that offers opportunity for all? Could the American Dream be described as a fallacy for immigrants?

Standing Heavy by GauZ’, translated by Frank Wynne

The Trees by Percival Everett

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Ladivine by Marie NDiaye