Reviews

This is one of the rare books that left me speechless, mesmerized as I was by its care and its craft. Jones Jr. writes a novel but speaks history, ethnography, psychology, gender, class, colonialism, spirit. This is the rare book like Achebe's Things Fall Apart (cited in the acknowledgments along with a panoply of other culture workers) that can serve as a guiding text. It offers--if one opens one's self up--a way of seeing, a way of being, that cannot help but liberate the substance and the transubstantial. Enchanting and terrorizing it cannot help but speak to hopes and fears, understanding intuitively that there can be no clarity--no truth--without attending to both. This is a necessary north star to all colonized peoples, even and especially those who cannot or refuse to see the captive within. A true marvel.

tabi_ha's review against another edition

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reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

cnmartin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

bethchatsbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

It is plain to see that this book is a love letter to the cannon of great African American writers and their works.It is heavily influenced by the authors Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Octavia Butler and Maya Angelou amongst others. This is a sweeping story following a plantation in the Deep South of America and follows the slaves Samuel and Isaiah. Sam and Isaiah form a budding sexual and intimate relationship despite their struggles to survive on the plantation. However their daily lives on the plantation are far from harmonious and it only gets worse for the two black men as the novel progresses.

The novel also focuses on different characters perspectives like the other slaves and the slave owners family. This novel also has similar supernatural / spiritual elements like The Water Dancer which I didn’t enjoy as much as the main plot line but I do feel added to the overall epicness of the novel. This will not be great for readers who need propulsive writing as this book is lilting and more of a slow burn.

But I will be ordering this in physical copy at some point as I feel I haven’t got the most out of this book in an ebook format. I would love to re read this book much more slowly and take my time to connect with the slower pacing and lyrical writing style. Although I do think the last quarter of the novel could have been more purposefully condensed.

Thank you to the author Robert Jones Jr., riverrun publishing and NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

binkramos's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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? N/A

4.75

dominiquexalana's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a beautiful and poetic story that needed to be told. I know I am going to revisit this book again.

stacie_w_books's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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