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"Your letters taught me an amazing thing: all a man can do is try. It's the only thing that counts. We all fail. No life succeeds forever. Trying is the key; it's the only real achieve-ment. I see that clearly now, how hard you tried, and for that, I love you. Asé."

“I didn't know, at the time, that I was searching for something absolutely true, something that wasn't a lie, something no man's hands had tainted. I wanted something to prove I was more than what my father thought I was. I hoped that, if I could write a great book, Dad might see me, even from afar, and apologize for having underestimated me.��

“…words let you outlive yourself. they take energy, your life force, and speak for you long after you’re gone.��

“It’s always because of—not in spite of.��

“Yet by exploring the lives of these precious brothers, I discovered that all men want the same things: validation, worth, purpose. They just never say it.
That's why some men dislike me—I'm willing to say it. That's also why I have to tell this story. Because it's a love song, a black male ballad, a lullaby most brothers can't sing. But I can.��

“The hard part was exposing black men's hearts. That made me uneasy and insecure. I knew what I felt, what we felt, but I never wanted to surrender our vulnerability for public pleasure.��

Day 45 is EASILY my favorite chapter!

“The context of the story was slavery because that's where it all began—the torced separation of black men from each other: fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, brothers and brothers.��

“Matthew is Uncle Esau!"
"Of course you are," I cackled. "You're big brother. That's why you brought me here. To tell me the rest of the story."
"You'll find your brother," I said. "I promise. I'm writing the story." He nodded and cried.

“…pausing his descension into the earth…Jesse Lee nodded and sank slowly into the living grave.�� - that’s powerful imagery from someone escaping death by hiding underground to be saved by the same brother who gambled his own freedom to return to save his only living relative