Fruit Punch. A Memoir

An arresting and one-of-a-kind memoir about the alternately exultant and harrowing trip growing up as a Black child desperate to create a clear reality for herself in this countryWritten in a distinctive voice and filled with personality, humor, and pathos, Fruit Punch is a memoir unlike any other, from a one-of-a-kind millennial talent. Growing up in Dallas, Texas, in the nineties and early 2000s, Kendra Allen had a complicated, loving, and intense family life filled with desire and community but also undercurrents of violence and turmoil.
"We equate suffering to perseverance and misinterpret the weight of shame, " she writes. As she makes her way through a world of obscureness, Kendra finds herself slowly discovering outlets to help navigate growing up and against the expected performance of being a young Black woman in the South-a complex interplay of race, class, and gender that proves to be ever-shifting ground. Fruit Punch touches on everything from questions of beauty and how we form concepts of ourselves-as a small rebellion, young Kendra scratched a hole into every pair of stockings she was forced to wear-to what it means to grow up in her great uncle's Southern Baptist church-with rules including "No uncrossed ankles" and "No questions." Inflected by a powerful sense of place and touched by poetry, Fruit Punch is a stunning achievement-a memoir born of love and endurance, fight or flight, and what it means to be a witness, from a blisteringly honest and observant voice.  Essays on Race, Class, and Gender: A raw exploration of what it means to grow up against the expected performance of being a young Black woman in the South.
A 90s Texas Childhood: Vivid scenes from a complicated Dallas upbringing, where loving community mixes with undercurrents of violence and turmoil. Poetic and Unflinching Prose: Written in a distinctive voice filled with personality and humor that confronts everything from rules in a Southern Baptist church to early questions of beauty and rebellion. Navigating Family Trauma: A blisteringly honest look at the complex interplay of love, endurance, and the weight of shame within an intense family life.