by Jason Lee
First published 2020
Jason Lee's "Childhood (Annotated)" follows Jimmy, a quiet boy haunted by his parents' volatility. As their fights escalate, Jimmy retreats into his own inner world, finding solace in his sketchbook. When a shocking act of violence upends the family, Jimmy must grapple with the trauma that will reverberate through the rest of his life. Shifting between past and present, the novel illuminates how our earliest experiences shape who we become.
Genres: fiction, abuse, coming-of-age, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, family-drama, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
70 pages · Paperback · Independently published
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, domestic-violence, emotional-abuse, physical-abuse