People Like Us

Mott’s work is grounded in reality but often feels like a riotous fever dream: here he tracks two(?) successful Black authors as one prepares to speak at a U.S. college where a shooting just took place and the other road trips through Europe to promote his work thanks to a zillionaire patron. As the storylines slowly merge, Mott explores gun violence, mental health, fame, fear, and who belongs (and who doesn’t) in America today. It’s not a memoir, yet Mott incorporates huge swaths of his personal biography, including winning the National Book Award (aka “The Big One”) in 2021. At once deeply philosophical, dark, and bitingly funny, Mott offers no easy answers but writes brilliantly about the questions. Some characters are familiar from Hell of a Book but this work stands alone.