Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

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

109 reviews

my_plant_library's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape

annie26's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

There are books and there are BOOKS, this one falls into the latter category. There are few books that you read in life where you know that you won’t be the same upon finishing it. You know that it’ll permeate your mind, your thoughts , your whole being and that is what Jefferson’s exploration of the history of America through the intergenerational story of Ailey’s family story. This is a very hard book to read at times but I’m so grateful for it. I’m so filled with gratitude for the stories of black people everywhere, for the stories of native Americans and for the stories of my own ancestors. What a beautiful saga of a story. An instant forever fave. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

jsmileysad's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-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

5.0

This book was an exceptional epic. Incredible story, demonstrates the lack of distance between us and the time of slavery— and the reality that is continued, overt racism. There’s no sugar coating in this book, it is heavy and deeply sad, but so incredibly moving. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

ryanbada's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Fire/Fire injury

rustynailsfullset's review against another edition

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

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

3littlewordz's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

 “Even in a place of sorrow, time passes. Even in a place of joy." And so passes time in the Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. 

This book was perfect. Simply incredibly perfect. I’ve seen people in the book-osphere that have mentioned wanting to be able to read a book again for the first time, and this is one of those books. I already know that this epic novel is one of my top reads of all time. Yes, I’ve already called it. 

So many themes were explored in the centuries covered in this storyline: slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the displacement and genocide of Indigenous people, sexual assault/incest, casual racism and racial terror, colorism (including passing), distrust, family secrets, drug addiction, segregation, life at an HBCU vs. PWI, the journey through academia as a black person…so many more. Another throughline explored beautifully was the Black American’s relationship to food, and how it could be both soothing and harmful. And of course, Du Bois!! His pen is razor-sharp and I absolutely love how the quotes at the beginning of each Song were so superbly chosen for that portion of the book. Ultimately, the strong family bonds wrapped me up like a warm, cozy blanket, even when the family dealt with strife and pain. 

Now, there are SEVERAL triggers in this book, and several themes mentioned above are explored in rather explicit detail. If you haven't yet started on the path to healing for those triggers (mainly sexual assault and abuse), some parts of this story may be too heavy for you. I finished some chapters and had to close my eyes and decompress. 

Jeffers' writing style is exquisite. I particularly enjoyed the historical anchors (beyond simple dates) included throughout the novel that oriented me to time and place. It's easy to tell that she's a poet by the phrasing and descriptions used throughout. Her world-building was so expansive and wonderfully done that I blinked and devoured 50-100 pages at a time. I actually read all except the very first chapter in 8 days - I didn't mind reading all 800 pages quickly! 

Simply put, read this book. And if you’ve already read this and are equally as enamored with this type of story as I am, I strongly recommend Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

thisreadingcorner's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Abortion

jwala34's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

INCREDIBLY WELL RESEARCHED AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS SO GRIPPING

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Sexual assault

satashii's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Grief

ohsonoelle's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Abortion, and Alcohol