"A unique perspective on one of the most infamous cities in recent American history." - Publisher's Weekly "A book that sticks with you long after you've read it." Volume 1 Brooklyn "Hoke's writing is blunt and honest, and Sticker is a collection worth keeping." Southern Review of Books
"I will never forget this book." - T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls "Funny, nostalgic, and weird in the best possible way." - Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, author of My Monticello Featured in Electric Lit's "The Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2022"
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Stickers adorn our first memories, dot our notebooks and our walls, are stuck annoyingly on fruit, and accompany us into adulthood to announce our beliefs from car bumpers. They hold surprising power in their ability to define and provoke, and hold a strange steadfast presence in our age of fading physical media. Henry Hoke employs a constellation of stickers to explore queer boyhood, parental disability, and ancestral violence.
A memoir in 20 stickers, Sticker is set against the backdrop of the encroaching neo-fascist presence in Hoke's hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, which results in the fatal terrorist attack of August 12th and its national aftermath.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Sticker is a collection of short vignettes and reminiscences by Henry Hoke of growing up in Charlottesville Va in the 90s related through the lens of 20 different stickers. Due out 13th Jan 2022 from Bloomsbury Academic, it's 164 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
This is one of a series of books on everyday items called "Object Lessons" which team writers' observations and experiences with material foci: stickers, bookshelves, bulletproof vest, traffic, TVs, and trees to give a few examples.
There were some a-ha moments in the course of reading. I was previously unaware where Mr. Hoke grew up (Charlottesville) and he ties in the recent infamy and cultural upheaval through his own observations and the responses he's garnered from folks who find out that he's from Charlottesville. He's arranged the responses chronologically from 1998-2018 with grim results.
I have enjoyed a number of the books in this series. It's erudite and thought provoking. This one was a worthwhile addition.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
