Chris Hewitt | (TNS) Star Tribune
The more personal Michael Arceneaux gets in his collection, “I Finally Bought Some Jordans,” the better it gets.
I’m not sure the writer has any new ideas about climate change, Donald Trump or being kind to restaurant servers, all of which he weighs in on, but his essay on “How It Feel Outside,” which is about his relationship with his folks, is impressive.
Starting with Arceneaux thinking about how significantly loaded “How are you?” is when he asks it of his dad, “How It Feel” deals with being gay and Black and wondering how his parents will react to meeting a theoretical partner, but also covers territory most adult children can probably relate to at some point in their relationship with their folks.
Arceneaux talks about his frustration with his mom and dad. They accept him for who he is but seem to have put up a few barriers. He also acknowledges his faults as a son, admitting that, even if there are topics they don’t feel comfortable discussing, he and his folks have found a way to connect that works.
His mother (who passed away recently) was concerned, for example, about the content in Arceneaux’s previous books, “I Can’t Date Jesus” and “I Don’t Want to Die Poor” (beginning all three titles with “I” implies Arceneaux knows his own life is his best subject). In a phone call, Arceneaux writes, “I listened to her explain that she doesn’t want me to repeat her mistakes of holding on to anger for too long. She said it will make you sick. She said it can and will kill you. She said you will waste too many years of your life being angry.”
Some of the essays, including those about housing and writing, echo themes in “Die Poor,” which was about drowning in student loans. Arceneaux is not debt-free yet but he’s in a better place (that’s where the Jordan purchase comes in). And while he’s not in the business of giving advice, his approach to the psychology of debt relief is intelligent and useful.
Arceneaux is a flexible writer, but I wish he’d had more help from an editor. The excessive use of italics in “Jordan” is distracting and there are too many sentences like this one: “At the same time, I sometimes am growing tired of constantly having to prove my value.” The visible frustration is understandable for a man who is, as Arceneaux points out, a double minority. But the sentence is awkward.
Quibbles aside, Arceneaux has an opinion on just about everything and a sarcastic, unafraid-of-confrontation voice to support it. He expresses uncertainty about writing — specifically, journalism — but it’s clear that, wherever he chooses to take his talents, he is a man with something to say.
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I Finally Bought Some Jordans
By: Michael Arceneaux.
Publisher: HarperOne, 224 pages, $19.99.
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