Kentucky Humanities has selected Fenton Jo hnson&rsquo\;s \;Scissors\, Paper\, Rock \;for its 2024 Kentucky Reads title. The novel will serve as a focal poin t for community-wide book discussions that promote a shared literary exper ience and celebrate the diverse voices and stories that shape Kentucky&rsq uo\;s rich cultural landscape. Kentucky Reads will offer scholar-led discu ssions of \;Scissors\, Paper\, Rock \; \;to community organiza tions throughout the Commonwealth. \;Scissors\, Paper\, Rock \;del ves into the complexities of human relationships\, identity\, and the sear ch for self-discovery. Fenton Johnson\, an accomplished author\, and nativ e Kentuckian\, brings his unique storytelling prowess to illuminate the in tricacies of life and connections that bind us together.
\nJoin us f or a free Evening Discussion of \;Scissors\, Paper\, Rock\, \;host ed by Erin Chandler.
\nSummary:
\n"For the first time since he left his birthplace in Kentucky for San Francisco\, Raphael Hardin has re turned home alone. Before\, he had always brought men with him on his visi ts\, lovers with whom his mother had been "civil\, even flirtatious\," whi le his father retreated to his sacred workshop." "Now his mother has died and\, at age thirty-six\, Raphael has come back to see his dying father\, who knows and disapproves of Raphael's boyfriends but who is unaware that this\, his youngest child\, may be ill as well." "Raphael's halting\, ofte n painful attempt to reconcile with his father forms the centerpiece of Fe nton Johnson's astonishing novel - the second for a writer whose work The Chicago Tribune has called "as rich and Southern as fried-chicken gravy." At times funny\, at times heartbreakingly poignant\, Scissors\, Paper\, Ro ck explores with wisdom and humor the many kinds of family\, the infinite varieties of love." "For nearly two centuries\, the Hardins have considere d Strang Knob - a community tucked into a westward-flung finger of the App alachians - the center of their universe. On a day "when the clouds began to spit snow" Raphael's father\, Tom Hardin\, set mink traps with his brid e-to-be\, Rose Ella\, and touched something in her heart forever by plungi ng into a flooded river to save a drowning dog. Throughout the raising of seven children\, Rose Ella and Tom's love became a slipknot\; the harder t hey strained at it\, the tighter it bound them one to another." "But for t heir children\, the Hardin household was both a nest of plain affection an d a place to leave. Now when Tom speaks to his urbanized sons and daughter s\, he feels as if he's calling across a river of neckties and office ligh ts. It falls on Miss Camilla Perkins\, the Hardins' next door neighbor\, t o provide shelter for Raphael\, who has been diagnosed with AIDS. In her h ome he hooks up his intravenous tube while his hungry heart feeds off the spinster's memories of a simpler\, though never easy\, era." "Through the intricately interwoven stories of the Hardin parents and children\, Scisso rs\, Paper\, Rock contrasts the families we inherit - our blood ties - wit h the families we choose\, our partners in love and our friends. After mak ing love with a childhood friend in his parents' backyard\, Raphael muses: "Who are those who will remember him? Who will remember the artistic sons gone to distant cities to die of euphemisms?"
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