Anissa Gray takes readers deep into the complicated, loving life of a Black family in her absorbing second novel, Life and Other Love Songs. Gray's narrative follows the ups and downs of Deborah and Daniel Ozro "Oz" Armstead and the consequences of Oz's sudden disappearance in 1981. Gray (The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls) opens her novel in 1989, as Deborah finally hosts a funeral for Oz. Their daughter, Trinity, now in her 20s, still struggles to understand how her father could have left them. Gray shifts her narrative backward and forward in time from the perspective of mother and daughter, from Oz and Deborah's courtship in 1960s Detroit to their eventual move to the suburbs and parenthood. When Oz disappears, Deborah and Trinity must learn to deal with their grief and disappointment--and the deep wounds that Oz could never quite escape.
Gray explores her characters' inner worlds with compassion, weaving their experiences with the issues of the day: race riots and white flight, the Vietnam War, Trinity's experience growing up as the only Black girl in her neighborhood. Gradually, Gray peels back the layers of Oz's trauma and its effects on him and his family. The Armsteads cannot forget what they've suffered but eventually, in their own ways, learn that forgiveness is possible. With gripping storytelling and complex, vivid characters, Gray's second novel is both a family saga and a thoughtful exploration of loss and loyalty, guilt and love. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams