Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

This is a sweeping epic of a book (and long! at 30 hours). It switches between Ailey Garfield's timeline in the present, to a timeline of her parents and grandparents, to even earlier, when land was stolen from Creek and Cherokee to create plantations.

There were a lot of tough scenes in this book relating to rape, child rape, drug use and abuse, overdosing, slavery, murder, racism, colorism, and more.

I found the history and family tree very interesting, especially the interracial couplings (some consensual, some not). I thought the author did a great job weaving all the stories together while centering on a family drama.

Content Warnings

satashii's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is one of those books that you probably should read because of how informative and in-your—face it is about uncomfortable things—the black experience in Georgia going back to the 1600s when the land was occupied by the Creek. It’s informative but also heart breaking in so many ways.

So why such a low rating?

Because this is a book that, imo, needed an editor to make it a tighter story. There’s a good 200 pages of this book that make the story drag on and on. If I hadn’t already hit the halfway point when it really started to slow it’s momentum I’d probably would have DNF’d it but I slogged ahead determined to finish.

Was the end worth it? Yes. Did I think the main character Ailey had an effective character arc? Somewhat.

I really struggled with Ailey being the spoiled younger daughter that wasn’t really growing up/maturing. While I was sympathetic to Lydia’s death and how devastating it was for her, she could be a selfish brat for the middle third of this book that was not endearing her to me. Her relationships with men and how toxic they were I felt distracted a lot from the other parts of the narrative and the back and forth between present and past didn’t always feel like it was integrating well. Tbh I would have probably been more interested in seeing Coco’s viewpoint rather than Lydia’s drug spiral. In the end, I wasn’t wholly satisfied by Ailey’s relationship choices other than I did like that she seemed to be ending up with David at the end.

So subtracting one star for the need for editing and another half star for what felt like, to me, like gratuitous lingering on sex scenes that weren’t really driving the narrative further and felt distracting.

Overall, I’d recommend it as a read if you haven’t read Toni Morrison’s work or Octavia Butler’s Kindred… but I’d probably recommend them over this book.

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lauravreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Following two timelines, one in the late 1700s and the other in the 1970s. The timeline in the 1700s follows an indigenous and African mixed community and how they experience colonization which will soon transition into slavery. In the 1970s timeline it follows a young teenager.

This is hands down the best book I have ever read! I know there is already hype for this book but it honestly deserves more. I was left in awe when I finished. This book has some favorite such as tropes multiple timelines and multigenerational family narrations. It is so well written with easy to love characters. I felt so deeply while reading it was hard not to with the writing and depth in it.

I literally have nothing bad to say. It was a perfect 5⭐️ for me.

Content Warnings