Coming Home by Brittney Griner, Michelle Burford
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date: May 7, 2024
Genres: Book Clubs, Debut, Non-fiction, Memoir
Bookshop
I don’t know much about women’s basketball, but I certainly know the name Brittney Griner. She is the WNBA player for the Phoenix Mercury who was wrongfully detained in Russia when cannabis vape cartridges were discovered in her luggage. She recounts her harrowing story in the memoir Coming Home.
For years Griner supplemented her income by playing on a Russian international team during the U.S. off-season. She’d led the team to numerous championships as well as being a popular sports figure in Russia. In February 2022 she was heading back to the States when ‘randomly’ selected for a luggage check. In Coming Home she details the experience from the moment she was told to open her suitcase to her release 10 months later.
The crux of Griner’s case is that this was a situation that would normally have been rapidly resolved and Griner sent home. Instead, in the two weeks while she was being detained in jail Putin’s army invaded Ukraine. The U.S. strongly condemned this act and set about initiating sanctions against Russia. Putin’s anger and desire to flaunt his power made Griner an easy, visible target—figuratively and literally. She’s 6’9” and Black—not someone who blends in even when she wants to. Despite having less than a cram of cannabis she’s charged with drug smuggling and sentenced to nine years in a labor camp—remote prison complexes formerly known as gulags.
I’ll leave the summary there for Griner to tell her own story. Needless to say this is shocking reading—a woman trapped in a hostile country where she doesn’t speak the language and one small misstep could make her disappear forever. Coming Home is a riveting retelling about not just surviving isolation and despair, but about the backlash and aftermath of her release. Griner goes beyond the impact of the physical duress she suffered to openly share the psychological damage she imposed on herself as the result of a careless mistake. Her journey to freedom is ongoing.
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I heard her interview on the We Can Do Hard Things Podcast and it was fascinating. Such a harrowing ordeal.
Oh my gosh, I’ll have to listen to that! Her height alone made the situation untenable–no bed or clothes that fit right and then adding in not knowing the language. It was hellish. Made me feel even worse for the people that are still detained over there.