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Title details for First in the Family by Jessica Hoppe - Available

First in the Family

A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream

by Jessica Hoppe
Jessica Hoppe
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

This program is read by the author.
An unflinching and intimate memoir of recovery by Jessica Hoppe, Latinx writer, advocate, and creator of NuevaYorka.
"A powerful thunderclap of a memoir." —Lilliam Rivera, author of Dealing in Dreams
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024: Today.com, LupitaReads, Electric Literature, Esquire, Publishers Weekly
In this deeply moving and lyrical memoir, Hoppe shares an intimate, courageous account of what it means to truly interrupt cycles of harm. Perfect for fans of The Recovering by Leslie Jamison, Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford, and Heavy by Kiese Laymon.
During the first year of quarantine, drug overdoses spiked, the highest ever recorded. And Hoppe's cousin was one of them. "I never learned the true history of substance use disorder in my family," Hoppe writes. "People just disappeared." At the time of her cousin's death, she'd been in recovery for nearly four years, but she hadn't told anyone.
In First in the Family, Hoppe shares her journey, the first in her family to do so, and takes the listener on a remarkable investigation of her family's history, the American Dream, and the erasure of BIPOC from recovery institutions and narratives, leaving the reader with an urgent message of hope.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 10, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250367129
      • File size: 247832 KB
      • Duration: 08:36:18

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from July 15, 2024
      Hoppe debuts with a bold and illuminating account of getting sober and her attempts to “decolonize recovery” by deconstructing ingrained narratives about people of color and substance abuse. Writing that “the most powerful weapon in this American arsenal is the story,” Hoppe begins with her own, recounting her childhood in Texas and New Jersey as the daughter of Honduran and Ecuadoran immigrants. In college, after her parents divorced and her sisters left home, Hoppe started drinking heavily and using drugs. Following a near-death experience, she enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous on the advice of a therapist. She got sober, but was unsure how to share the news with her family, so she kept it to herself. Then, in 2020, Hoppe’s cousin died of an overdose, and she learned that her family had a long, silent history with addiction. Newly empowered with that knowledge and struggling to maintain her own sobriety, Hoppe grew curious about what moved her and her cousin to stay silent about their addictions. Her curiosity led her to investigate BIPOC-led sobriety programs, including White Bison’s book The Red Road to Wellbriety, as well as her own discomfort with majority-white AA meetings that introduced her to openly racist sobriety partners. She presents her findings in sharp, forceful prose, effortlessly weaving together her personal story and her insights into the intersection between race and sobriety. This is essential reading. Agent: Johanna Castillo, Writers House.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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