My Pisces Heart: A Black Immigrant's Search for Home Across Four Continents

by Jennifer Neal

An intimate and culturally engaged memoir exploring life as a Black immigrant, tracing Jennifer Neal's journey from Japan to Chicago, Australia and, finally, BerlinJennifer Neal mastered the art of reinvention from an early age, with her father's career uprooting and moving her family across the American South every three or so years. Home was experienced transiently, and she has since spent her adulthood traveling the world, searching for a place of security and acceptance.Weaving together memoir with the historical and present-day political, she interrogates her experience of living in countries across four different continents – what drew her to these places, and what eventually pushed her away. It's a story of love and self-discovery, culture-shock and art, bureaucracy and racism, and the courage and vulnerability that it takes to immigrate.

Genres: Memoir, Travel, Nonfiction

368 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 2024

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 finished copy gifted by the publisher

I really appreciate reading about Black history about the three different countries the author lived in (Japan, Australia, Germany). It’s well researched and provides insight into different country’s and culture’s colonial pasts and anti-blackness.

The “memoir” is the weakest part of the book and I wish the author would’ve just focused on writing about it the history, mostly because key events seemed glossed over and I get the sense that the author maybe isn’t fully ready to discuss them?

I also wish these things are addressed in the book;
1. To be able to up and leave the US is a huge privilege. Especially in part 1 when the author went to Japan to teach English without knowing any single Japanese word. I wanted to see more self reflection of how this immense privilege might affect her experience

2. The writing is very American centric. There are times when I feel the author is comparing a country to the US (one example I can think of now is her mentioning there’s no they/them pronouns and certain words in Germany). Especially for someone who “escaped” the US then to hold every against America is odd. No?

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I found this really enjoyable and illuminating. Neal does a really good job of melding her own personal story with information (especially historical stories and data) about the places she's lived — this combo could easily feel awkward, and I was interested in both parts of the narrative, which is really important in a book that encompasses multiple genres. I also just think it's a really valuable project to dig into the histories of Black people in countries that we (that is, the dominant historical or cultural narrative) don't necessarily associate with Black history and culture. Obviously there's been plenty of scholarship on this subject, but this book makes some of that more accessible to a general audience. I found her writing about Australia particularly interesting. That's a good example of a country that is obviously very racist, but some of the specifics were totally new to me, and really gruesome.

I did have some quibbles: in the intro, she frankly states that she "won't live" in a country without socialized healthcare, or without gun control, without really acknowledging that most people don't have the option to make this kind of selective choice. Her immigration stories aren't necessarily a walk in the park either, but there's a combination of luck and privilege at work here as with most people who wind up living in multiple developed countries where they weren't born. Acknowledging that complexity would have made the book stronger. I also noticed a couple of minor factual inaccuracies in some of the historical sections about which I had knowledge — nothing huge, but this always makes me wonder about what I might have missed. And I was truly not interested in the astrology framing, though that's mostly kept separate and so didn't take away from the rest of the book too much.

Still, I'm definitely glad I read this and would recommend it to others interested in this subject matter.

[Ms. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, interesting travel story woven with the author’s memoir. But also included is much history of Black people across the world, focusing on the countries she visited and lived in as a Black immigrant. I try to read about other countries but i found so much new information on Black history and indigenous Black history in Japan, Australia and Germany. I love that she includes many footnotes to better our understanding of the different languages and cultures, plus her run down at the end of the lesser known subjects she refers to in the book, for further reading! A fellow book nerd & decolonial focused learner— loves that and the author sharing not only what was said to her but stories from other Black immigrants or indigenous people in each country. I’ll definitely keep reading this book through the years, not only for reference but for the pleasure of the journey she shared with us. I hope she writes more !

[Mark Corrigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

My Pisces Heart ambitiously attempts to weave themes of identity, belonging, and the immigrant experience, but struggles to find a clear or compelling narrative voice. The book’s structure feels disjointed, with sections that jump between ideas without fully developing any of them, leaving readers adrift rather than engaged. While the author’s personal journey has undeniable potential, the writing often veers into overly introspective territory, drowning in abstract musings rather than offering grounded experiences that would resonate with a broader audience.

The storytelling often feels repetitive, with passages that circle around the same points, failing to build the momentum or depth needed to draw readers in. Moments that should be rich with emotional insight or cultural exploration frequently fall flat, buried under verbose language that obscures rather than enhances meaning. Additionally, rather than reflecting a universal search for belonging, many reflections feel narrowly personal and hard to connect with, making it difficult for readers to feel invested in the author’s journey.

In the end, My Pisces Heart feels more like a collection of fragmented reflections rather than a cohesive story that takes the reader on a journey. It’s a book that promises more than it delivers, and those seeking a profound exploration of home and identity might find themselves disappointed by the lack of substance and clarity. A more structured approach and sharper storytelling could have helped this memoir reach its full potential.

[Jennifer Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's the thing. Writing a memoir seems like a good idea until it's actually published. Then suddenly, you want to hide from it. I've hid from mine for nearly a year now, so I was feeling brave enough to come back online and write a little review about it.

When I wrote this book, initially I thought about writing a pure memoir. But the truth is, I'm not that interesting (even though I've done some interesting things). So, I set out to write a memoir in conversation with history (which is **very** interesting). This required extensive research, fact-checking, and expert consultation by expert readers. But it also meant taking a rather unconventional inventory of my life, and breaking it down into signifiers that dialogue with their corresponding historical milestones. It meant looking at my former spouse through the eyes of Australian anti-miscegenation laws, and my time in Japan through the context of imperial Japanese policy. On top of that, it meant showing continuities between policies and histories that create an anti-redemption arc across former colonial powers.

While I've written about some very personal things here, it really is something of a personal dissertation. An "I think, therefore I am" approach to memoir. And anyway, the balance between nonfiction and memoir is a tricky one. But I've done a great job of it here.

So read it. You'll love it and you'll learn something. I pinky promise. :)

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author once in London and we had this very interesting conversation about her work. I told her I was getting my PhD in decolonial studies, so I had this book on my radar for awhile--but only just got around to reading it.

I was pleasantly surprised that she incorporated so much research from my own studies, which is uncommon in a non-academic book. But I was even more pleasantly surprised that she understood it, and applied it toward her own perspectives and experiences. She seems to have this really incredible intuition about how one person's story is held within the context of global histories, and I found that refreshing. I also read another review from someone that said they wished she had critiqued her own privilege more, which I get--and I think that would have been very interesting. I think she was critiquing the systems that determine who gets those privileges, and why. I don't see a lot of that in memoir. Usually, it boils down to individual privileges, which I think is a bit of a misunderstanding of how privilege works. I loved how she connected immigration to ableism to racism and critiqued how those systems created what we now call privilege, and I think anyone who reads this will come away with a better understanding of that as well.

[Julia G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually find memoir to be hit or miss. People can be interesting, but can they write about their lives in a way that makes the rest of us interested as well? That's the trick--and as a writer, I've struggled with that too. I love it when authors add in a bit of history and analysis because it shows me they understand their significance is just a blip within the context of history. This book absolutely NAILS that. My goodness! Her writing is so nuanced, thoughtful, and astute. The way she connects events across continents and time brings our current world into startling focus. I think it's one of those books that you need to read a few more times to fully appreciate because it contains an ample amount of research and information. But it's super accessible because she writes like a person and not an academic, with some hilarious footnotes and anecdotes.

Warning: It also made me sad at times...especially when she wrote about her former partner in Australia and sexual crimes committed against Aboriginal women. It's not easy reading, but it is a book you can't put down.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book; it was a memoir but there was a lot of information and history included, a lot of which was new to me. The racism in the other countries the author lived in sounds as bad and in some cases, worse, than what is going on in the U.S. The point is that racism is global. I found it depressing- can it get better? Is there really a solution? I like to think it is better than it used to be, but that is coming from the perspective of a white person. Which is why I feel like it's important to read books like this, that show others' POVs, taking you inside their experiences and feelings.

The book does get scholarly and dry in places, but it's still a quick read, and it does intermingle a lot of the author's personal experiences with the history and other information about the locations she has lived in.

This is an important book I recommend everyone read.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Pisces Heart follows the author, Jennifer Neal, as she moves around the world from Florida- to Japan, Australia and Germany. Throughout this novel, Neal explores the racism embedded in global culture and how the influence of various cultures prejudice affects one another. This book is a masterful blend of autobiography and research novel, and I would highly recommend it.

The one thing that kept me from giving this novel five stars was the Germany section, I really loved the Japanese, American and Australian sections because of the way the author interwove her story with the facts and I would have liked to see more of that in the German section.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nah, this book absolutely should be required reading for anyone who travels, wants to travel, or wants to travel write. I was so impressed with the level of research and her vulnerability on the page. This was the kind of writing I wish we had about other parts of the world I don't understand.

[katherine boykin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the different tones of heavy historical information vs. personal memoir stories that were intertwined sometimes difficult to switch between while reading. Overall, it was interesting and informative