Niami’s story begins with every parent’s worst nightmare. Recently separated, her mother allows their father to take four-year-old Delicia and her older brother Nile for five days on his own. Not having seen their father for a year, they are ecstatic, especially when he mentions he is taking them to Disneyland. However, Delicia and Nile notice as they begin to drive that nothing looks like the journey to this magical kingdom. Little do Delicia and Nile know, he is kidnapping them, taking them to Iraq as a slap to their mother.   Already, Delicia’s life is off to a terrifying start. Whisked into a foreign country separated from everything she has ever known, the two are forced to live here until they can be rescued. Not understanding a word of Arabic or anything about the culture, I find it a miracle that the two survived as they did, given their father’s clear incompetency. Finally, miraculously, their mother is able to locate them and fight for her children to return to the States.   Do not be fooled; although Delicia is saved from her captor, her life in no way gets any easier. She spends much of her childhood trying to fill the void of a father figure, putting her in extremely dangerous and life-endangering circumstances. Per the trigger warning, readers should be aware that Niami divulges into some very hard topics, including child molestation, sexual assault, and abuse, as well as suicide. Some passages were a very difficult read as she describes in detail the absolutely devasting events that occur. I cannot even fathom the horrors she had to face, and I was sick to my stomach hearing how abuse was such a heavy theme in her life. If readers themselves struggle with hearing recounts or stories of these difficult topics—please beware this is NOT the book for you.   The fact that Niami can write of these events shows her incredible strength. To have survived so many odds and lived to tell the tale is truly breathtaking. I aspire to have the kind of courage she must possess to tell this story. If you are a reader who has struggled with any of the topics discussed, I would recommend this book to you. Niami’s story may help you manage your own grief and find light even in the darkest of times.   Reviewed By: Theresa Kadair       StarCount4/5   FormatTradePage Count322 pages   PublisherResilientAFPublish Date15-Sep-2023ISBN9781647047603       IssueSeptember 2023CategoryBiographies & Memoirs

Kissing Asphalt by Delicia Niami is a biography demonstrating her incredible resilience in the face of abuse from trusted allies and strangers. The story has many characters as the Niamis move around, but Delicia and her mother are the leads in each others’ woes and triumphs. Delicia experiences trauma making her ashamed and fearful. Kissing Asphalt is about fighting feelings that keep you suffering in the past, and embracing the wonderful things bullies wanted you to hide from yourself. It is the first in Delicia’s ResiliantAF trilogy. Rather than following a single chronological stream, the biography follows the flow of relationships in Delicia’s life. The whole story takes place from Delicia’s birth until late high school.  A section shares one character’s relationship and experiences with Delicia from introduction to conflict and resolution, then jumping to another person. As a result, the stories are not chronological, skipping forward and backward a few days or years. Once understood, this is a fantastic way to represent character relationships. Overall, the book was a phenomenal read that explained well the good and bad coping mechanisms used by the author to deal with her past. I highly recommend this book, especially for people who have never enjoyed a biography.  Kissing Asphalt can be emotionally heavy because of the volume and severity of traumatic events. Delicia did a fantastic job by speaking matter-of-factly about her experiences and their impacts. Delicia’s language made the story easier to digest. Giving readers detailed descriptions of her perpetrators’ and friends’ characteristics and lifestyles made their intertwining stories feel more insidious. Readers see the juxtaposition between the friendly and terrifying sides of people as Delicia did in her youth. It can be sickening to see relationships continue after abuses have occurred. Readers then remember that Delicia is a child whose abusers use knowledge of her desires and fears to maintain their relationships with her. Mature readers who binge or who like many breaks will enjoy the novel’s compilation of short stories. Delicia has a unique writing voice that immerses readers without disturbing them. The short stories were fast-paced with impressive character development, even on the characters readers barely saw. Kissing Asphalt is professionally edited with a satisfying ending that makes readers crave more. Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse

REVIEWED BY

Amy DiMaio Reedsy Discovery