From the jacket flap
A breakout novel for Dionne Brand: a story of heart-stopping suspense from the acclaimed author of At the Full and Change of the Moon, that is also a hymn to youth and life in the city.
What we all long for opens with an unforgettable scene: desperate Vietnamese families are fleeing the country in open boats. In the confusion and darkness, six-year-old Quy, carrying his family's life-savings of diamonds sewn into his belt, loses his grip on his mother's hand and, in the crush of people, follows the wrong pair of trousered legs into another boat. His family manages to get to Canada soon after, but Quy, trapped in the refugee camps in Thailand, is seemingly lost to them.
Some twenty years on in Toronto, in the summer of 2002, Quy's mother still lives in hope of finding him. Her daughter Tuyen, an aspiring artist, and her friends are typical Canadian kids getting by in the city -- afire with their desire for independence, they're selling used clothes, bike couriering, sponging off their parents. At night they blast John Coltrane and drum 'n' bass, get high and try to find the passion they believe will galvanize their lives. Meanwhile Quy, now a dangerous criminal, is finding his way to Canada and to a gripping, unexpected encounter with his lost family.
In this beautiful novel that is both a hymn to life in the city and to youth, the mounting tension of Quy's journey is skilfully played out against the rhythms and excitements of Toronto from the seventies to the present.
Excerpt From "What We All Long For
"The muscles of highway and streets met down at the lake. All along the underpasses graffiti marred the concrete girders. She recognized the tags. The kids who livedacross the alleyway from her apartment were graffiti artists. Kumaran's grinning pig, Abel's 'narc' initial, then Keeran's desert and Jericho's lightning bolt. She felt slightly comforted though she had asked them often enough to paint something else if they were going to paint the whole city over. Something more. They had practically filled all the walls of the city with these four signs, and she would have liked them to paint a flowering jungle or a seaside, the places where her mother Angie had always dreamed of going but never went. But she loved the city. She loved riding through the neck of it. . .She loved the feeling of weight and balance it gave her.
"From the Hardcover edition.
Details
- Title What We All Long for
- Author Dionne Brand
- Binding Paperback
- Edition 1st
- Pages 336
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher St. Martins Press-3PL
- Date 2008-11-25
- ISBN 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Weight 0.9 lbs (0.41 kg)
- Dimensions 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 in (21.59 x 13.97 x 2.29 cm)
-
Themes
- Demographic Orientation: Urban
- Interdisciplinary Studies: Canadiana
- Sex & Gender: Lesbian
- Topical: Lgbt
- Library of Congress subjects Domestic fiction, Refugees
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2008026260
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
Media reviews
Citations
- Publishers Weekly, 09/22/2008, Page 39
More Copies for Sale
What We All Long for
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 2
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
A$10.71FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For
by Dionne Brand
- Used
- Acceptable
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
A$10.71FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For : A Novel
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
- Item Price
-
A$11.36FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For : A Novel
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
- Item Price
-
A$11.63FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For : A Novel
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Reno, Nevada, United States
- Item Price
-
A$13.47FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For: A Novel
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used: Good
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
-
A$17.00FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For: A Novel
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used:Good
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
-
A$17.03FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used; Very Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Milton Keynes , Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
- Item Price
-
A$25.93A$21.49 shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For
by Dionne Brand
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 10
- Seller
-
Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
- Item Price
-
A$36.75A$19.46 shipping to USA
Show Details
What We All Long For: A Novel
by Brand, Dionne
- Used
- Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780312377717 / 0312377711
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Newport Coast, California, United States
- Item Price
-
A$49.84FREE shipping to USA