First time visiting BookBrowse? Get a free copy of our member's ezine today.

Book Summary and Reviews of My Pisces Heart by Jennifer Neal

My Pisces Heart by Jennifer Neal

My Pisces Heart

A Black Immigrant's Search for Home Across Four Continents

by Jennifer Neal

  • Publishes:
  • Oct 22, 2024, 368 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

With heart, humor, and razor-sharp observation, this intimate and incisive memoir traces the journey of a Black, queer woman as she searches the world for a place of security and acceptance to call home.

I've never seen home as a permanent concept; it is an image crafted from untempered glass that threatens to shatter with lack of care.

Jennifer Neal was born in the United States to a family that moved continuously for their own survival and well-being—from the Great Migration to the twenty-first century. As an adult, she has continued to travel the world as a Black queer woman, across two decades and four countries—from Japan to the US and then Australia to Germany, where she has settled for now.

Throughout her moves, Neal threads her personal story of immigration with local Black histories and racial politics to provide context for her own experiences. The result is both a crucial examination of how racism plays a foundational role in modern-day immigration systems and a tender tribute to immigrants and their stories.

An unwavering interrogation of colonialism and policy, love and loss, hypocrisy and resistance, My Pisces Heart demands meaningful conversation about not only the ways in which we live with our histories, but also how they live through us—urging an honest dialogue on why the West continues to grapple with its past and visualize its future.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Neal's writing can sometimes be dry, but her questing narrative is driven by this powerful point: 'Black life enriches every corner of the world. More importantly, Black life deserves to exist in any part of the world, for no reason whatsoever.' A welcome and fresh perspective on global travel." —Kirkus Reviews

"Jennifer Neal's My Pisces Heart is a lucid account of a life lived in, and amidst, the world. Beginning with the rich and under-narrated history of African American migration in the US and traveling outward to Asia, Europe and Australia, this book—like the best travel narratives—is curious, rich and transporting." —Zinzi Clemmons, author of What We Lose

"This is a captivating and unflinchingly honest account of the highs and lows of being a black woman out in the world, coupled with a detailed history of the many global perceptions of race that is both eye-opening and informative. As a black woman who has also lived and worked in Asia, Australia and Europe, so many of Neal's observations resonate deeply." —Fiona Williams, author of The House of Broken Bricks

"My Pisces Heart is a much-needed excavation of what it means to be a migrant of colour in our present world. Jennifer Neal offers a masterclass in politically-engaged memoir: rarely have I encountered a book so nuanced, gracefully entwining deep research with lived experience. Whether you live life in motion or stay put, this book is essential reading." —Jessica J. Lee, author of Dispersals

This information about My Pisces Heart was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Jennifer Neal

Jennifer Neal is an American Australian author, artist, and occasional standup comedian. Her work has been published in NPR, Playboy, Gay Magazine, The Root, The Erotic Review, The Cut, and many other publications. She is a MacDowell Fellow and Pushcart Prize-nominated essayist. My Pisces Heart is her second book.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more biography/memoir...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
    There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
    by Ruben Reyes
    While it is common for children of immigrants to reflect on their ancestors' struggles through ...
  • Book Jacket: There Are Rivers in the Sky
    There Are Rivers in the Sky
    by Elif Shafak
    Elif Shafak's novel There Are Rivers in the Sky follows three disparate individuals separated by ...
  • Book Jacket: Bright Objects
    Bright Objects
    by Ruby Todd
    It is January 1997 in the small town of Jericho, and Sylvia Knight has decided to end her own life. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Dark We Know
    The Dark We Know
    by Wen-yi Lee
    Written by Wen-yi Lee, The Dark We Know comes to us from Gillian Flynn Books, so it seems ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Rose Arbor
by Rhys Bowen
An investigation into a girl's disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense.
Book Jacket
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
by Lisa See
Lisa See's latest historical novel, inspired by the true story of a woman physician from 15th-century China.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    We'll Prescribe You a Cat
    by Syou Ishida

    Discover the bestselling Japanese novel celebrating the healing power of cats.

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

K U with T J

and be entered to win..

Book Club Giveaway!
Win Before the Mango Ripens

Before the Mango Ripens by Afabwaje Kurian

Both epic and intimate, this debut announces a brilliant new talent for readers of Imbolo Mbue and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Enter

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.