Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Calling My Name
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.liaratamani.com/
CITY: Houston
STATE: TX
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
one daughter; https://www.liaratamani.com/contact
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2017051421 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017051421 |
| HEADING: | Tamani, Liara |
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| 001 | 10538984 |
| 005 | 20170824173010.0 |
| 008 | 170824n| azannaabn |n aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 2017051421 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |e rda |
| 100 | 1_ |a Tamani, Liara |
| 670 | __ |a Calling my name, 2017: |b ECIP title page (Liara Tamani) |
PERSONAL
Children: one daughter.
EDUCATION:Duke University, B.A.; Vermont College, M.F.A.; attended Harvard Law School.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Houston Rockets & Comets, TX, former marketing coordinator; production designer for Girlfriends television show. Also, worked variously as a yoga instructor, dance teacher, floral designer, and home accessories designer.
AVOCATIONS:Dancing, yoga, traveling.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Liara Tamani is a writer of young adult novels. She has held a wide variety of previous jobs, including yoga instructor, dance teacher, floral designer, home accessories designer, television production designer, and marketing coordinator for professional sports teams. She holds degree from Duke University and Vermont College.
In 2017, Tamani released her first book, Calling My Name. The book’s protagonist and narrator is an African American teenager named Taja Brown. Taja lives in Houston with her very religious family. The book is structured in short chapters that resemble diary entries. The first of these chapter/entries finds Taja skipping church, which involves lying to her family. She deals with her doubts about Christianity, while still maintaining a strong belief in God and communicating Him often. She tries to reconcile her own feelings about spirituality with the Christian beliefs that she was taught throughout her childhood. After Taja enters high school, she begins having romantic relationships and eventually has sex for the first time with her boyfriend, Andre. She feels great shame for what she has done and keeps it a secret from her family. Taja also thinks about her future and daydreams about being a published author one day.
In an interview with Robin Galbraith, contributor to the Cynsations website, Tamani discussed the inspiration behind the book. She stated: “I started writing Calling My Name to explore and heal the wounds of my teenage self. Like Taja, the protagonist of Calling My Name, I grew up in a very loving and religious family. My family was always in church.” Tamani continued: “While Calling My Name is not my story, it was definitely born out of my experience. And I wanted to share my truth, to give voice to the struggle of sexual shame and guilt (which a lot of teenagers deal with, especially girls), and to speak to the terrifying experience of departing from one’s family and community teachings to find one’s own way.”
Critics offered favorable assessments of Calling My Name. Amanda MacGregor, contributor to the School Library Journal website, commented: “This quiet book is beautifully written.” MacGregor added: “Taja’s story is light on a concrete plot but the very universal question of ‘who am I and what do I want?’ seems like enough plot to keep readers invested as they watch Taja mature.” Writing on the Lonestar Literary website, Michelle Newby suggested: “Calling My Name is finely wrought young-adult fiction by Houston’s Liara Tamani. Her debut novel about an African American girl coming-of-age in the 1980s in Texas is powerfully reminiscent of, and compares favorably with, Judy Blume’s seminal Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Random House, 1970). Calling My Name is a sensory experience, beginning with the beautifully designed jacket.” Newby also stated: “Taja’s first-person narration is a joy.” Anita Lock, reviewer on the BookPage website, remarked: “Tamani manages to seamlessly tie Taja’s story together in this witty and thought-provoking coming-of-age novel told from an African-American perspective.” “An excellent portrayal of African American culture, gorgeous lyrical prose, strong characters, and societal critique make Tamani’s debut a must read,” asserted Courtney Gilfillian in Booklist. A Kirkus Reviews critic commented: “It’s a slow-build narrative coated in ornate language that may initially distract readers but pays off in the end.” The same critic praised Tamani’s “stylish prose.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly suggested: “Tamani’s debut novel brims with heart and soul.” The contributor continued: “The discussion of religion never feels heavy handed or prescriptive.” Suzanne Libra, writer in Voice of Youth Advocates, highlighted “Tamani’s poetic language and imagery” and predicted: “Readers who appreciate coming-of-age stories, allowing for deep connection with the main character will enjoy this.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2017, Courtney Gilfillian, review of Calling My Name, p. 101.
Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2017, review of Calling My Name.
Publishers Weekly, September 11, 2017, review of Calling My Name, p. 69.
Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2017, Suzanne Libra, review of Calling My Name, p. 66.
ONLINE
BookPage Online, https://bookpage.com/ (October 31, 2017), Anita Lock, review of Calling My Name.
Cynsations, http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/ (November 30, 2017), Robin Galbraith, author interview.
HarperCollins Website, https://www.harpercollins.com/ (March 23, 2018), author profile.
Liara Tamani Website, https://www.liaratamani.com (March 23, 2018).
Lonestar Literary, http://www.lonestarliterary.com/ (November 26, 2017), Michelle Newby, review of Calling My Name.
School Library Journal Online, http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/ (October 24, 2017), Amanda MacGregor, review of Calling My Name.
I'm a strong believer in following your heart, even when you don't know exactly where it's taking you.
I can make a mean guacamole (it's almost a requirement for being Texan).
I LOVE dancing and doing yoga.
I have absolutely no problem singing in public when my jam comes on. And yes, I still use the word jam.
I LOVE traveling. So far my life has taken me to Columbia, Costa Rica, The Czech Republic, England, France, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, and Tanzania.
Succulents are my friends. Regular house plants can't stand me.
Growing up I thought I'd become an attorney (like my father). I worked really hard and made it all the way to Harvard Law School, where I realized I wanted to do something different with my life. So I followed my heart and left.
Before finding my way back to writing, I went down a winding path of being: a marketing coordinator for the Houston Rockets & Comets, a production assistant for Girlfriends (TV show), a home accessories designer, a floral designer, and yoga and dance teacher.
I have a BA from Duke University and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College.
I live in Houston with my daughter.
Liara Tamani lives in Houston, Texas. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College and a BA from Duke University. Calling My Name is her first book. www.liaratamani.com
QUOTED: "I started writing Calling My Name to explore and heal the wounds of my teenage self. Like Taja, the protagonist of Calling My Name, I grew up in a very loving and religious family. My family was always in church."
"While Calling My Name is not my story, it was definitely born out of my experience. And I wanted to share my truth, to give voice to the struggle of sexual shame and guilt (which a lot of teenagers deal with, especially girls), and to speak to the terrifying experience of departing from one’s family and community teachings to find one’s own way."
Thursday, November 30, 2017
New Voice: Liara Tamani on Calling My Name
By Robin Galbraith
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations
Liara Tamani is the debut author of Calling My Name (Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2017). From the promotional copy:
This unforgettable novel tells a universal coming-of-age story about Taja Brown, a young African American girl growing up in Houston, Texas, and it deftly and beautifully explores the universal struggles of growing up, battling family expectations, discovering a sense of self, and finding a unique voice and purpose.
Told in fifty-three short, episodic, moving, and iridescent chapters, Calling My Name follows Taja on her journey from middle school to high school.
Literary and noteworthy, this is a beauty of a novel that deftly captures the multifaceted struggle of finding where you belong and why you matter.
What was your initial inspiration for writing this book?
I started writing Calling My Name to explore and heal the wounds of my teenage self.
Like Taja, the protagonist of Calling My Name, I grew up in a very loving and religious family. My family was always in church—Bible study, choir rehearsal, Sunday services, Vacation Bible School, Church conventions—you name it, we were there. Also like Taja, I had a lot of doubts and questions about religion but quickly learned that I wasn’t supposed to have these doubts and questions, that their presence meant I might not be saved. So I dealt with them internally, fighting against the fear of hell, which was very real to me at the time.
And when I became sexually active in my later teenage years, my fears were compounded by guilt and shame. Let me tell you, it wasn’t fun.
While Calling My Name is not my story, it was definitely born out of my experience. And I wanted to share my truth, to give voice to the struggle of sexual shame and guilt (which a lot of teenagers deal with, especially girls), and to speak to the terrifying experience of departing from one’s family and community teachings to find one’s own way.
What model books were most useful to you and how?
Because Calling My Name is written in vignettes, I mostly studied novels that were composed of interrelated vignettes and short stories.
I read any short-story cycle or novel-in-vignettes I could get my hands on, but my favorites were The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros ( Arte Público Press, 1984), Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks (Harper & Brothers, 1953), and Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997). I loved the lyricism, economy of language, voice, and characterization in these books. I love their liberated story structures.
I studied their linking devices and transition techniques. These books taught me how to construct relationships between my vignettes and stories in order to connect them and move the larger story forward.
They taught me how to take the images, observations, ideas, and threads of dialogue in my individual vignettes and stories and expand them within the larger social, cultural, and emotional context of my book.
As an MFA in Writing student/graduate, how did that experience impact your literary journey?
I wrote Calling My Name during my MFA in Writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I started the first piece at the very end of my first semester, fell in love with the voice, and spent the next year and a half adding to the novel piece by piece. Upon graduation, I had a finished, polished book. I didn’t plan it that way, but I was very fortunate to have it happen that way.
It was great to have each new chapter of my novel critiqued every month by an adviser. It was also nice to be able to dedicate the critical analysis part of the program to studying books and techniques that would help me write Calling My Name. And the structure and discipline of the MFA program was invaluable. I don’t think I would have written Calling My Name so fast without the deadlines.
Obviously, an MFA isn’t essential to becoming a fiction writer. There are so many paths, but this one was the right one for me. And one of the best things about the program is the lifelong community of writers it creates.
I can’t tell you how much inspiration and support I’ve received by being connected to the VCFA community. And that inspiration and support has been vital to me through all parts of my publication journey.
Dream Keepers YA Authors Panel with Renée Watson, Nic Stone,
Liara Tamani, Jacqueline Woodson, Ibi Zoboi, and Vashti Harrison
As a member of a community underrepresented in youth literature, what did your diverse perspective bring to your story?
Taja is a young African-American girl, and her culture is on full display in this book; it’s embedded in the story. Some issues with race come up because race is always a factor for black people, and I wanted to be honest about the ways it’s a factor in Taja’s life.
One issue involves the time when the neighborhood families of Taja’s white friends move away when the neighborhood starts becoming too black. Another issue surrounds the hard time Taja has with the new black girls at school who thinks she talks too white.
These issues are present, but they aren’t the focus. While books that explicitly deal with America’s race problem are very important (especially in these times), books that remind readers that black people and people of color have more than race problems, that we are whole human beings, with the whole spectrum of human problems and human joys are equally as important.
Taja is African-American, but she is also just a teenage girl who is trying to figure out her path in life—a human experience so many of us can identify with.
Cynsational Notes
Booklist gave Calling My Name a starred review, "An excellent portrayal of African American culture, gorgeous lyrical prose, strong characters, and societal critique make Tamani’s debut a must-read."
Liara Tamani lives in Houston, Texas with her daughter.
She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College and a BA from Duke University.
Read about how illustrator Vashti Harrison designed the cover for Calling My Name at Epic Reads.
QUOTED: "Tamani's poetic language and imagery."
"Readers who appreciate coming-of-age stories, allowing for deep connection with the main character will enjoy this."
Tamani, Liara. Calling My Name
Suzanne Libra
Voice of Youth Advocates.
40.4 (Oct. 2017): p66. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
4Q * 3P * S * NA
Tamani, Liara. Calling My Name. Greenwillow/HarperCollins, October 2017. 320p. $17.99. 978-0-06-265686-5.
Calling My Name begins on a hot Houston Sunday when Taja Brown lies to get out of attending church so she can listen to her mysterious internal voice and learn more about herself and the world. The book follows her from middle school to high school graduation, conveying all the changes in herself, her family, her friends, her beliefs, and her way of looking at the world. Told in first-person, the book poetically expresses the evolution of Taja's perceptions as readers share in all Taja's "firsts." From the first small lie about a stomachache to the bigger lies about premarital sex, Taja gradually separates herself from her family's rules and grows into the person she wants to be--a writer.
While not quite stream of consciousness, this novel moves dreamily along wayward paths. It is not always clear how much time has passed between chapters which could make it difficult for some readers to follow the progression; however, readers willing to be swept along by Tamani's poetic language and imagery will appreciate the journey just as much as Taja appreciates the beauty of the world in ways large and small. This debut is reminiscent of Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming (Penguin, 2014/ VOYA October 2014) or Marilyn Hilton's Full Cicada Moon (Penguin, 2015/VOYA August 2015), but less linear. Readers who appreciate coming-of- age stories, allowing for deep connection with the main character will enjoy this.--Suzanne Libra.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Libra, Suzanne. "Tamani, Liara. Calling My Name." Voice of Youth Advocates, Oct. 2017, p. 66.
Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511785055 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=597de5ff. Accessed 26 Feb. 2018.
1 of 5 2/26/18, 10:47 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Gale Document Number: GALE|A511785055
QUOTED: "Tamani's debut novel brims with heart and soul."
"The discussion of religion never feels heavy handed or prescriptive."
2 of 5 2/26/18, 10:47 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Calling My Name
Publishers Weekly.
264.37 (Sept. 11, 2017): p69+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Calling My Name
Liara Tamani. Greenwillow, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-265686-5
Tamani's debut novel brims with heart and soul, following its African-American protagonist, Taja Brown, as she searches for spirituality, love, and a sense of self during middle school and high school. Expressive writing creates intimacy from the outset, and Taja's relationship with God is especially absorbing; even when her spirituality isn't explicitly discussed, it shapes her actions and the way she views the world. Her honesty about her doubts and her desire find God on her own terms make her relatable and real.
"I want to tell Gigi everything: my doubts about good people going to hell just because they happen to be a different religion or happen to mow their lawns or wash their cars or plant begonias on Sunday instead of going to church," Taja reflects during a visit to see her ailing great-grandmother. "Most of all, I want to tell Gigi about the God I feel inside of me when I get still." The discussion of religion never feels heavy handed or prescriptive; it's clear that Taja's journey is hers alone. Ages 14--up. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Calling My Name." Publishers Weekly, 11 Sept. 2017, p. 69+. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A505634986/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=ae115bb5. Accessed 26 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A505634986
QUOTED: "It's a slow-build narrative coated in ornate language that may initially distract readers but pays off in the end."
"stylish prose."
3 of 5 2/26/18, 10:47 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Tamani, Liara: CALLING MY NAME
Kirkus Reviews.
(July 15, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Tamani, Liara CALLING MY NAME Greenwillow (Children's Fiction) $17.99 10, 24 ISBN: 978-0-06-265686-5
An African-American girl living in Houston, Texas, with her close-knit family--parents, younger sister, and older brother--grows from flat-chested preadolescent to a young woman about to go to college. Readers meet her on a Sunday morning when she uses the excuse of an upset stomach to stay home from church--and loves it. Brought up in a strictly religious household, Taja begins to question the existence of God and the way of life that she has been taught to lead. When she falls in love for the first time, her inner conflict strains further, and Taja is faced with the biggest challenge of her life thus far. Taja deals with the insecurities that most young people feel regarding identity, love, and fitting in. Her relationship to her spirituality as well as her negotiations with self-discovery, acceptance, and burgeoning sexuality are also explored. With Taja as narrator, readers see her life juxtaposed against her older brother's, who is given the freedom traditionally afforded boys and not girls, not just in church, but also by society in general. It's a slow-build narrative coated in ornate language that may initially distract readers but pays off in the end, bringing them close to the heart of Taja and the higher power she yearns toward. Stylish prose brings home quiet depths. (Fiction. 14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Tamani, Liara: CALLING MY NAME." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2017. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A498345074/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=c0e65312. Accessed 26 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498345074
QUOTED: "An excellent portrayal of African American culture, gorgeous lyrical prose, strong characters, and societal critique make Tamani's debut a must read."
4 of 5 2/26/18, 10:47 PM
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Calling My Name
Courtney Gilfillian
Booklist.
114.1 (Sept. 1, 2017): p101. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
* Calling My Name. By Liara Tamani, Oct. 2017.320p. Greenwillow, 517.99 (9780062656865). Gr. 9-12.
Through 53 vignettes set in the 1990s, Tamani deftly weaves a story of family, friendship, and identity. Taja Brown lives in Houston with her older brother, Damon; her younger sister, Naima; and her thoughts. Living with devout Christian parents, Taja must figure out how to navigate "movements" she feels that bring her closer to God but aren't her parents' kind of religion. She grows up through crushes, first kisses, and losing her virginity to her first boyfriend, even after her parents give them both purity rings. Later, she denies to a friend that she is no longer a virgin and grapples with feelings of shame and guilt. Taja also questions why Damon thinks it's OK to call girls "easy"; why he can have his own phone line but her dad says "that's just the way it is" when she asks why she can't have her own; and the weight of societal pressures put on girls and women. Although Taja thinks often about the unspoken rules and misogyny of African American religious culture (Sister Davis has to wear "looser skirts, lighter lipstick, and panty hose" if she wants to continue reading church announcements), she doesn't publicly challenge them with her friends or family members. An excellent portrayal of African American culture, gorgeous lyrical prose, strong characters, and societal critique make Tamani's debut a must read.--Courtney Gilfillian
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Gilfillian, Courtney. "Calling My Name." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2017, p. 101. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509161677/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=3f23bed8. Accessed 26 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A509161677
5 of 5 2/26/18, 10:47 PM
QUOTED: "Tamani manages to seamlessly tie Taja's story together in this witty and thought-provoking coming-of-age novel told from an African-American perspective."
Calling My Name
Adolescent life during the in-between years
BookPage review by Anita Lock
Liara Tamani’s debut novel, Calling My Name, captures the experience of an African-American preteen growing up in Houston, Texas, during the late 1980s and early ’90s.
Taja Brown is on the cusp of blossoming—emotionally, physically, spiritually. While waiting for her flat chest to transform and wishing for other changes in her physical features (like losing the gap between her front teeth), Taja pushes the boundaries of her strict Baptist upbringing. First, she tries lying. Her momentary empowerment after she successfully gets away with a fib quickly morphs into guilt as she utters silent apologies to God. Although she is a good student, maintaining high grades is not the only thing on her mind. Kissing is definitely another, but it doesn’t amount to much during middle school. But everything changes in high school when she begins dating Andre. What Taja doesn’t know is that her guilt level will hit an all-time high when her parents present the young couple with Purity Rings.
A collection of 53 first-person vignettes, Tamani’s numberless chapters make Calling My Name resemble a journal. Grouped into eight sections—and sprinkled with moving quotes from notable black writers like Zadie Smith, Gwendolyn Brooks and Toni Morrison—these vignettes serve as poignant snapshots of pivotal moments in Tamani’s life. Although she jumps from one event to the next, Tamani manages to seamlessly tie Taja's story together in this witty and thought-provoking coming-of-age novel told from an African-American perspective.
QUOTED: "Calling My Name is finely wrought young-adult fiction by Houston’s Liara Tamani. Her debut novel about an African American girl coming-of-age in the 1980s in Texas is powerfully reminiscent of, and compares favorably with, Judy Blume’s seminal Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Random House, 1970). Calling My Name is a sensory experience, beginning with the beautifully designed jacket."
"Taja’s first-person narration is a joy."
one Star Book Reviews
By Michelle Newby, NBCC
Contributing Editor
Michelle Newby is a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews and Foreword Reviews, writer, blogger at TexasBookLover.com, member of the Permian Basin Writers' Workshop advisory committee, and a moderator for the Texas Book Festival. Her reviews appear in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, Concho River Review, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, The Rumpus, PANK Magazine, and The Collagist.
Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com
Liara Tamani lives in Houston. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College and a BA from Duke University. Calling My Name is her first book. www.liaratamani.com
11.26.2017
YA FICTION
Liara Tamani
Calling My Name
Greenwillow Books
Hardcover, 978-0-0626-5686-5, (also available as an e-book, an audiobook, and on Audible), 320 pgs., $17.99
October 24, 2017
Taja Brown is playing hooky from church in favor of a spiritual awakening. “There’s something moving inside … my body,” she tells us,” tiptoeing across the high arches of my feet, break-dancing on my kneecaps, running figure eights around my hips … skipping up my sides, and climbing up to my shoulders’ peaks.” Taja has awakened this morning to the miracle of autonomy—the breathtaking realization that she is a separate being from her parents and siblings—and the knowledge that God is inside her, so much sweeter than “the tasteless lessons [she] swallows in Sunday school.” We follow Taja through first bras and first periods, boys, peer pressure, ambition, loss, and the longing for “space for mystery and mistakes.”
Taja regards the future apprehensively as she witnesses the disappointments and failures of the adults around her, and the death of her great-grandmother. She tests boundaries, eyeing freedom but not quite ready to try; she’s practicing, but still needs the reassuring, safe harbor of home.
Calling My Name is finely wrought young-adult fiction by Houston’s Liara Tamani. Her debut novel about an African American girl coming-of-age in the 1980s in Texas is powerfully reminiscent of, and compares favorably with, Judy Blume’s seminal Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Random House, 1970). Calling My Name is a sensory experience, beginning with the beautifully designed jacket; tendrils of climbing roses, delicate yet strong, curl across it and throughout the pages. Tamani structures Calling My Name in instructive vignettes representative of her journey from middle school through high-school graduation.
Tamani’s writing is lyrical and tactile. A thunderstorm approaches and “a hungry growl rolls through the clouds’ dark bellies.” When Taja’s parents produce a chastity contract for her and her first boyfriend, we feel acutely her humiliation. Tamani uses a father’s job loss to illustrate the singular, selfish focus of teenagers. When Taja’s family visits great-grandmother Gigi, sick with cancer, Taja contemplates the railing on the apartment balcony, “the black paint peeling … the red rust underneath, taking over.”
Passages resonate with the frisson of recognition. “There’s something wrong with my walk when I’m alone and have to walk past a group of boys,” Taja thinks. “They’re everywhere, these stupid, ugly boys. Judging me. Making everywhere I walk feel like a runway.” The exquisite surprise at the first touch of a boy “pulsing and rising and pulsing and rising from a low, untouched place,” and the confusion at the realization that this sensation and love are not the same thing.
Religion features strongly in Taja’s life. Her parents are evangelical Christians, and Taja begins to chafe under the restrictions and to question differing standards of conduct and liberty applied to her and her older brother. God is a source of power and comfort for Taja, as is the memory of her great-grandmother Gigi, a more pagan source.
Taja’s first-person narration is a joy—sensitive, observant, smart, funny, and vulnerable. Taja’s interior voice matures in nuance as she grows from a pubescent girl into a young woman, as she discovers and attempts to sort the many diverse things of this wide world that call her name. Learning to integrate the inside and the out, she tells us, “I’m busy noticing I’m alive.”
I can’t wait to read what Tamani gifts to us next.
* * * * *
QUOTED: 'This quiet book is beautifully written."
"Taja’s story is light on a concrete plot but the very universal question of “who am I and what do I want?” seems like enough plot to keep readers invested as they watch Taja mature."
Book Review: Calling My Name by Liara Tamani
October 24, 2017 by Amanda MacGregor 1 Comment
Publisher’s description
ra6Calling My Name, by debut author Liara Tamani, is a striking, luminous, and literary exploration of family, spirituality, and self—ideal for readers of Jacqueline Woodson, Jandy Nelson, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Sandra Cisneros.
This unforgettable novel tells a universal coming-of-age story about Taja Brown, a young African American girl growing up in Houston, Texas, and deftly and beautifully explores the universal struggles of growing up, battling family expectations, discovering a sense of self, and finding a unique voice and purpose.
Told in fifty-three short, episodic, moving, and iridescent chapters, Calling My Name follows Taja on her journey from middle school to high school. Literary and noteworthy, this is a beauty of a novel that deftly captures the multifaceted struggle of finding where you belong and why you matter.
Amanda’s thoughts
calling my nameThis quiet book is beautifully written and features a very introspective main character who interrogates her thoughts on sex, faith, dating, her future, and more. When we first meet Taja she’s 11 (I think–often her age is not specified). We follow her through her senior year of high school. Spanning such a large number of years is a risky move in a YA book and initially readers may wonder why she is so young and when the story will jump to her older teen years. Though she may be on the younger side at the beginning of the story, she grapples with the same questions throughout her tween and teen years. Raised in a religious household in Houston, Taja understands that her parents decide what’s best for her and wonders when she will get to choose for herself. She thinks a lot about church, God, religion, expectations, double standards, guilt, commitments, and what it means to truly feel alive. Her feelings change and grow as she gets older and really works to figure out what it is she believes and wants from life. An overachiever with big dreams, Taja eventually has to decide if the future her boyfriend sees for them is one she can live with.
Set, it seems, in the early 90s (again, this is not specified, but based on musical references and fashion details, I had guessed as much. The inclusion of kids with beepers really solidified that guess.), Taja’s story is light on a concrete plot but the very universal question of “who am I and what do I want?” seems like enough plot to keep readers invested as they watch Taja mature and begin to find her very own answers to some big questions.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Edelweiss
ISBN-13: 9780062656865
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 10/24/2017