Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

20 reviews

sydneyletta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

This book doesn’t have a plot. It follows the main character’s life and the lives of her ancestors. The audio book kept me engaged but this was a tough family saga that covers a lot of very hard topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, Addiction, and Trafficking

Moderate: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, and Suicide attempt

brynalexa's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Perfect. It’s a rare long gem that deserves to be so. I loved making small discoveries throughout the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Genocide, Infidelity, Infertility, Mental illness, Body shaming, Abortion, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Self harm, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Colonisation, Sexism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Murder, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Physical abuse, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, and Pregnancy

readandfindout's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Classism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Incest, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Violence, Torture, Rape, Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, Addiction, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion

all1thegr8's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

A beautiful tale of one Black family’s lineage and a woman’s growth into fully understanding her roots. 

Incredible writing and storylines. Jeffers makes great use of 797 pages; although the book is certainly long, it’s length feels appropriate for the depth and vastness of its contents (creating meaningful storylines for over 300+ years of characters & discussing themes of their life is not easy!)

Think I will need significant time to digest this novel. While it’s depth and vastness can be an asset, these qualities can also make it difficult to discern critical takeways, at least immediately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Abortion, Infidelity, Racism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Grief, Drug use, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicide attempt

kelly_e's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

Title: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
Author: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Genre:
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date:

T H R E E • W O R D S

Sweeping • Tender • Rewarding

📖 S Y N O P S I S

The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called "Double Consciousness," a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’s words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans—the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers—Ailey carries Du Bois’s Problem on her shoulders.

Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother’s family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women—her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries—that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.

To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors—Indigenous, Black, and white—in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story—and the song—of America itself.

💭 T H O U G H T S

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois has sat untouched on my shelf for far too long simply because of its sheer size. A yearly reading challenge prompt ('read a 600+ page book') forced my hand and I couldn't be more grateful! This is proof that I shouldn't leave big books sitting on my shelf.

This novel is a long journey, but it was worth every single minute. Following the sweeping history of one American family over centuries of the colonial slave trade, through the Civil War, to our own tumultuous era. It's a work of fiction, yet these characters felt so real. So alive. I was rooting for their victories and sympathized with their pain. Ailey (the main story teller) is researching her families history and I was along for the ride. My heart felt for Lydia as well. These two sister's weaved their way into my brain even when I wasn't reading.

The writing is absolutely beautiful and layered. It was easy to read 100 pages in one sitting without noticing the passage of time. The family history is interwoven seamlessly with the modern timeline. The narrative certainly tackles a lot - race, history, identity, privilege, intersectionality, identity, culture, womanhood and shared trauma - and yet it all comes together so flawlessly.

This book is one for the ages - equal parts compelling and moving. Although lengthy it easily could have been longer. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is an experience all of its own. It's demanding, challenging, and incredibly well-researched. I will be finding a special place for this one on my favourites bookshelf. Definitely check out content warnings beforehand as this is no easy journey and being in the right headspace is necessary.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• lovers of the family saga
• readers who love beautiful writing
• bookclubs

🔖F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Even in a place of sorrow, time passes. Even in a place of joy. Do not assume that either keeps life from continuing."

"But first you got to get out of the library sometimes and meet somebody, 'cause it ain't legal to marry books."

"These are the incongruities of memory. It is hard to hold on to the entirety of something, but pieces may be held up to light." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Addiction, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Misogyny, Classism, Slavery, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Racial slurs, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Colonisation, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Blood, Sexual content, and Miscarriage

colourism, overdose

dragongirl271's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Racism, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Murder and Miscarriage

madeleinebay's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a book I was recommended by a member of an online book club. I really had no idea what it would be about and sometimes I like to go into things with no preconceptions. The focus of this book is telling an intergenerational story of a family. It is fiction, but has the feel of several intergenerational narratives I have liked, such as Wild Swans. The focus of the narrative is Feminist and is an account of the history of Black Americans in the South (specifically Georgia).

Having read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, a lot of the plot points of this book were familiar. If you haven't learned much about the Antebellum South, this could be quite rough going. As a historian (main character) Ailey Pearl Garfield is often shaken, and moved to tears, by the accounts she unearths about happenings in her family's past.

This story is nuanced, and the characters feel like people rather than archetypes. Weaving a history filled with trauma would be pretty much impossible without some levity and there is a lot of dialogue that lightens the mood. Some of the humour is utterly hilarious and there are often call-backs to information about minor characters that pepper the backstory with shared in-jokes and form a real sense of this family inhabiting a rich world and community. There are a couple of LGBT characters in the story, and a family history of Dyslexia which becomes apparent as Ailey digs deeper into her family's story.

I could write an entire page to describe the content warnings... but I won't. Let's just say that Racism is the tip of a horrible, bloody iceberg, and that genocide, sexual abuse, physical abuse, suicide, drug addiction, miscarriage, gaslighting and oppression of various forms are all in this book. It's a big book.. there are a lot of words.. and not all of it is pretty.

The Audiobook is beautifully narrated by 3 different voice talents, and the story spans several different timelines, so if you are "reading" by Audiobook it's a good idea to download the supplemental material that lists the genealogy of the family, so you don't get lost.

Thoroughly recommend this book. I found myself really excited by some revelations near the end and more than once I got body chills and frisson from emotionally resonant bits. This would be a great bookclub read if you have people who read at about the same pace, and don't mind tomes that exceed 800 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Mental illness, Grief, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Excrement, Addiction, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Murder, Genocide, Suicide, Misogyny, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Torture, Homophobia, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Blood, Alcohol, Ableism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Gore, Classism, Child abuse, Abortion, Violence, Self harm, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Incest, Domestic abuse, Death, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Drug use, and Drug abuse

rustynailsfullset's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Slavery, Racism, Grief, Rape, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, and Incest

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Genocide, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

kirkspockreads's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Slavery, Death of parent, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts