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tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Religious trauma, Environmental degradationnoahsingh's review against another edition
3.75
Pros:
-Everyone has already said this but yeah obviously the writing is really good.
- Enjoyed that we get a perspective chapter from almost every enslaved character. Especially enjoyed Maggie and Sarah's perspectives.
-Samuel and Kayodes relationship is beautifully written. Its the first book I've read set during the transatlantic slave trade with focuses on queer black characters, and it was really interesting to read a perspective on that.
-I loved loved loved the King Asuka chapters, my only complaint there is that I wish there had been a lot more of that narrative in general. Same for Sarah's narrative. The exploration of black queerness and transness as not yet warped by slavery and colonialism is definitely one of the strongest aspects of this book to me.
-
Cons:
-Not enough time spent with each characters, and I didn't see the need for Paul's chapters being so long.
-I personally don't enjoy too much description/poetic language which gets in the way of the actual narrative, which I think this book suffered from a bit. Its all very well-written but I think some of it could have definitely been cut down. But this is a personal bias of mine obvy.
-Some elements of the book were underdeveloped, for example the Beulah/Be Auntie connection, the Seven/Vs the Seven aunts, etc
-So so so much (trigger warning) rape. I understand it's historically accurate to the enslavement of black individuals in America but the explicitness and repeated graphic descriptions seemed unnecessary and kinda excessive for me. For example,
-A lot of the characters don't get a conclusive ending, of course that's hard to do when most of the characters are enslaved individuals and escape from slavery was practically impossible.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
lisztaffe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
greenrequiem's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
desdemonarose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The writing is very well done, Jones captures the different cultures of his characters and their backgrounds well in it. It's not a easy read in terms of subject matter, but I think it's important to face those tough topics, unless it's especially triggering. I'm not a POC, but from my limited view, Jones does seem to tackled the topic really well and it gave me a lot to think about.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Murder
kshertz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
amberinbookland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
charleshasalibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War
criticalgayze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
1) The polyphonic choral concept, which is overall the strongest thing about the book, and
2) The concept of the growth of an idea in a community, in this case homophobia among the enslaved.
The choral narration, as stated above, is the strongest thing about the novel as it runs throughout its entirety and often provided relief when I wanted to abandon the story. The chorus serves as a kind of chaotic good to our main focus, Samuel and Isaiah, and to tie in ancestral practices that remind us of that second concept the novel is ruminating on.
This second concept, the growth of homophobia in the enslaved community at the heart of the novel, is also incredibly interesting. Watching how and why a community might adopt an idea they heretofore had no concept of or interest in was an interesting piece of, likely historically accurate, social experimentation. And watching it played against the ideas on gender and sexuality brought over from tribal communities made it all the more impactful.
My biggest struggle in the book was when the story began to devolve from this second concept as we begin to have chapters from the perspective of the white characters in the story. The idea still lives in the novel as the driving force, but we are introduced to the narrative interests of the white enslavers, which becomes the central focus of most of the novel's back third. While I understand why the choice was made in the interest of servicing Jones's plot, it was far less interesting than the work he had been doing so far.
While significantly smaller, I also had a couple of other issues with my reading of the story. The first is that I wanted Isaiah and Samuel to be the focus of the novel, as I had been led to believe. Even though I knew going in that the vast majority of the story was not told from their point of view, I thought more of the story would be about them, yet the story was really more about the way they are used as pawns to play out the interests of other characters. I am also curious about the cultural conversations of the characters. I would have to read more firsthand writing from the period, but it sometimes seemed like the cultural ideas were more reflective of our modern revisiting of the period rather than period appropriate.
Despite my qualms, this book does have incredibly important things to say that I think make it a great pick for a book club discussion, which is the context for which I read it. There are lots of ideas and perspectives that feel new, either in their discussion or in their approach. Furthermore, until we begin to get some of those later white-perspective chapters, I think this is one of the gentler books on slavery as Jones seeks to both love his Black characters and show the love between them. Finally, the last three chapters go a long way toward making the ending of the novel a powerful piece that will stick with you.
Quotes:
"Our responsibility is to tell you the truth. But since you were never told the truth, you will believe it is a lie. Lies are more affectionate than truth and embrace you with both arms. Prying you loose is our punishment." (Page 2)
"That was good, though, because some things should never be mentioned, didn't have to be, not even among friends. There were many ways to hide and save one's self from doom, and keeping tender secrets was one of them." (Page 40)
"This wasn't a framework for liberty; this was the same tyranny of Europe, only naked and devoid of baubles." (Page 126)
"'Some people pain is eternal. Some people worship they pain. Don't know who they are without it. Hold on to it like they gon' die if they let it go.'" (Page 167)
"The North, meanwhile, still couldn't answer the questions of who would do the work freed slaves would necessarily leave behind and how those unfortunate souls would be paid once the position of slave was abolished. These men were bad at business, though there was every indication they were just as greed." (Page 202)
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Homophobia
regnistegra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Excrement, and Death of parent