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_nursejayy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I enjoyed most of the character roles. The writing was spectacular.
I will say I do wish Randall and Vyry could have been together. I know Vyry waited as long as she could but I would have loved to see what became of them together as a couple.
I’m also glad Jim was able to go off to school. I wonder how Innis was able to bring the new crop in without him but I’m glad Jim got away.
Vyry was such a strong person and endured a lot. I’m thankful she was able to have some type of happy ending. And as it stands, the Master and his family seemed to get what they had coming as well.
ralowe's review
5.0
i must have suppressed the knowledge that this was an oral history, since i became unsure by any type of guiding symbolist structure to the proceedings, and it made me very nervous. i wondered what the moral or message was intended to be, but of course fact, and maybe even fictive fact, offer no closure. one of my historic triggers is the time of reconstruction, this reading confirms it, the time where the horrors of the present-day took shape, indentured servitude perpetuated through debt bondage and cropping for shares, all that bureaucratic ugliness that reveals the amount of irrationality required for securing the institutions of the rational. the beauty of walker's writing made itself clearer to me near the end with the vast passages of dialogue, the sheer beauty of black english put to the project of 'working through' the many horrors of american life. at one point there is an intramural confrontation between the camps of what would be later refined as pacifist liberation theology in one corner and across from it the counter-colonial ancestral longing for black freedom that would perhaps inspire afropessimism. i don't know where the the author's loyalties lie, and it is quietly remarkable that is a testament to the work that for some reason it doesn't seem to matter.
zybes's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
4.0
Really good book that shows the atrocities of slavery and the reconstruction period that followed the end of the civil war. There are many characters but the story mainly follows Vyry (I listened to the book, not sure how you spell her name) and her family. I wanted to know her character a bit more intimately. Because the story spans many years and many characters, the narration has that distant tone. It reads very much like a classic and I highly recommend the book, the only shortcoming being character development.
passionyoungwrites's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
“A war to set us niggers free? What kinda crazy talk is that?”
.
Jubilee is a written history of Vyry living through slavery and seeing freedom. She is the daughter of a white plantation owner and his black mistress (his favorite one 🫣).
.
Reading this was like I was standing around watching things unfold. Vyry as a toddler being raised by others until she was of age to work in the big house. Her struggles with the Mistress, Big Missy, being slapped around and tied up for a mistake that many children would make. Being a maid to her own sister, same age as her. From learning to cook with Aunt Sally and eventually becoming the cook herself. To meeting a black man who is free that promises her marriage and freedom if he can buy her from her father. To living and waiting on the plantation well after slavery ended. To figuring out what life she wanted for herself and her children after the emancipation. To making that dream a reality just for it to be taken from her time after time. To watching her kids have a life that she never did.
.
The most fascinating part of this story is knowing that Margaret Walker wrote this story based on the life of her maternal great - grandmother from the oral recollection from her maternal grandmother!
Not many of us know these stories of what our ancestors endured. Though, I feel that many narratives that involve slavery mostly focus on those that tended to the fields. Where here Vyry was a house slave, very light in color and could pass for white - though she never did. This story allows the reader to see a full picture of slavery, and the struggles that were endured through the eyes of those from inside the house.
Oh how I wished Margaret would have left us more stories to read! And the foreword written by Nikki Giovanni in this 50th Anniversary edition is 👌🏾
.
Jubilee is a written history of Vyry living through slavery and seeing freedom. She is the daughter of a white plantation owner and his black mistress (his favorite one 🫣).
.
Reading this was like I was standing around watching things unfold. Vyry as a toddler being raised by others until she was of age to work in the big house. Her struggles with the Mistress, Big Missy, being slapped around and tied up for a mistake that many children would make. Being a maid to her own sister, same age as her. From learning to cook with Aunt Sally and eventually becoming the cook herself. To meeting a black man who is free that promises her marriage and freedom if he can buy her from her father. To living and waiting on the plantation well after slavery ended. To figuring out what life she wanted for herself and her children after the emancipation. To making that dream a reality just for it to be taken from her time after time. To watching her kids have a life that she never did.
.
The most fascinating part of this story is knowing that Margaret Walker wrote this story based on the life of her maternal great - grandmother from the oral recollection from her maternal grandmother!
Not many of us know these stories of what our ancestors endured. Though, I feel that many narratives that involve slavery mostly focus on those that tended to the fields. Where here Vyry was a house slave, very light in color and could pass for white - though she never did. This story allows the reader to see a full picture of slavery, and the struggles that were endured through the eyes of those from inside the house.
Oh how I wished Margaret would have left us more stories to read! And the foreword written by Nikki Giovanni in this 50th Anniversary edition is 👌🏾
bazayas's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This epic follows the life of Vyry, a white-passing mixed-race woman, from her birth to an enslaved black mother and white master, her lonely childhood in the kitchens, her teen years envying and loving a free black man, the sacrifices of her young motherhood, her complicated affections for her white half-sister, and the opening of her world and her dreams when freedom comes.
Often compared to Gone with the Wind because it is a more truthful portrayal of the same period/culture, from the POV of a strong-willed enslaved woman rather than a strong-willed enslaver. It doesn’t have the same level of glamour, as it is a flipped version—Vyry’s life improves after the war and the KKK are a frightening specter rather than patriotic heroes. It’s painful and disturbing, but Vyry is a great heroine, complex and likable. This deserves a miniseries—there’s even a love triangle!
CW/TW:
overt racism & racial violence; misogyny; SA; parental death; brutal murder; war violence; stillbirth/pregnancy loss; child abuse
For fans of:
GWTW who are too aware of the racist lies; heroines who are actually good people but are still interesting; love triangles without the drama and just complicated love; antebellum novels that are historically accurate
remigves's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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
3.5
ifyouhappentoremember's review against another edition
5.0
4.5
Jubilee follows the life of a slave named Vyry, based on the life of Margaret Walker's great-grandmother. Vyry is one of the many unacknowledged children of her master and her enslaved mother. We follow Vyry's life through three major periods of American history: the Antebellum era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
From the first chapter, the reader is thrust into a grim reality. The book starts at the deathbed of a slave - Hetta. She is dying from complications of a difficult book in which the baby did not survive; the pregnancy is the result of her years-long sexual relationship with the master of the plantation, John Dutton. Her youngest surviving child, a 2-year-old girl named Vyry is brought to Hetta's bedside so she can see the face of one of her children (the rest have been sold away), one last time.
It would be easy to reduce Jubilee as a pointed counterpoint to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. And yes, Jubilee is the dose of reality amongst the sea of nostalgia fiction that romanticizes the Southern Antebellum era. But Jubilee is a compelling book in its own right - Vyry is a character you can't help but admire. She has a quiet strength of character and never loses her hope and kindness throughout the pain, heartbreak, and injustice.
I inhaled this book. I probably could have finished it within 2 days if it wasn't for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Jubilee follows the life of a slave named Vyry, based on the life of Margaret Walker's great-grandmother. Vyry is one of the many unacknowledged children of her master and her enslaved mother. We follow Vyry's life through three major periods of American history: the Antebellum era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
From the first chapter, the reader is thrust into a grim reality. The book starts at the deathbed of a slave - Hetta. She is dying from complications of a difficult book in which the baby did not survive; the pregnancy is the result of her years-long sexual relationship with the master of the plantation, John Dutton. Her youngest surviving child, a 2-year-old girl named Vyry is brought to Hetta's bedside so she can see the face of one of her children (the rest have been sold away), one last time.
It would be easy to reduce Jubilee as a pointed counterpoint to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. And yes, Jubilee is the dose of reality amongst the sea of nostalgia fiction that romanticizes the Southern Antebellum era. But Jubilee is a compelling book in its own right - Vyry is a character you can't help but admire. She has a quiet strength of character and never loses her hope and kindness throughout the pain, heartbreak, and injustice.
I inhaled this book. I probably could have finished it within 2 days if it wasn't for the Thanksgiving holiday.
warri0rprincess's review
5.0
GREAT book! Took place in Georgia before the Civil War, during and after...follows one girl, Vyry, that was born a slave, her mother being a slave and her father being the white master of the plantation.
So eye-opening and a beautifully told story. I highly recommend this book!
So eye-opening and a beautifully told story. I highly recommend this book!