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4.6 AVERAGE
4.6 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
This book was amazing, start to finish; it did not feel like a long book. The reason I am giving 4 and not 5 is that some story elements/side characters got huge sections of the narrative, while other characters (like the middle sister!) were oddly swept aside.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
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:
No
Book Review The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honoree Fanzine Jeffers
I am going ahead and saying this will be my favourite book of the year. It is a masterpiece. It is a history lesson wrapped up in a generational family saga with amazing characters, compelling prose, and extraordinary storytelling. Both heart wrenching and hopeful, despairing and inspiring it will captivate you to the end.
The book uniquely and powerfully captures the dehumanization and oppression of Indigenous and Black people from colonization, slavery, the Indian Removal Act, Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow to the present in vivid detail. It brilliantly conveys factual information through the education and research of the characters, and the experiences of the family, blending and weaving past and present. The heart wrenching stories filled with indivdual, community and family resilience. The similarities and interconnections between the Indigenous and Black people in their experiences of colonization and slavery, along with their continued oppression and resilience, are impactfully threaded through the story.
The story is told through the eyes of one family stretching through generations from the colonization of the Creek People and slavery up to the present. The narrative weaves back and forth through these eras, immersing you within each time period and the trauma, suffering and obstacles of each era. It can be confusing at times to track how everyone is related; due to the presence of both acknowledged and unacknowledged children. However, this does not detract from the story, in fact I felt like re-reading the book at the end once I had a solid understanding of the family connections.
Jeffers identifies this as a feminist novel and this is compellingly explored. Her female characters are dynamic, witty, strong, vulnerable and damaged. They are fierce. The novel portrays the suffering of girls and women through the ages, both within and outside of the family. It examines the limitations and gradual expansion of their roles, the objectification and sexualization of Black girls and women, and the central role they play within the family and community. In many ways, it is a love song to Black women recognizing the power they hold to lift up their families and communities and the sacrifices they make for them. Motherhood is explored from every angle and is so powerfully rendered.
The importance of education underpins this novel - from the illegal teaching of slaves to read and write, to segregation and desegregation in school and the challenges of inhabiting all white spaces, such as many colleges. The forces trying to dismantle and disrupt the progress of Black schools, colleges and students was fascinating, as was the ongoing debate about who was more influential, Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. DuBois.
At its core, this novel is the power of community and family to protect, sustain, hold you close and give you strength and hope. They are the centre of healing. Much like the ever present pecan tree, family and community symbolize sorrow, strength, love, loss, beauty and hope.
This book is a tour de force and I consider it a must read.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I know most people gave this book glowing reviews, but it just did not do it for me. The repeated theme of child sexual abuse was pervasive. Almost everyone in a relationship cheated on their partner. Most of the men were abusive at some point. The sex was frequent and explicit, but rarely romantic. The "song" chapters were all telling and no showing. There were troubling implications that badness and meanness are inherited. There were so many scenes of women cooking for men and so many descriptions of the same kind of food over and over. The dedication to describing women's bodies felt icky. Urination was a repeated theme, and I don't understand why. Ailey, the focal character, was one of the least compelling characters in the whole book, and she never really grew up. I get that the author wanted to show the legacy of intergenerational trauma and the brutality and pervasive nature of racism, but this book just didn't work for me as literature. Perhaps if you don't know much about slavery and racism, this would be a deeply important and emotionally affecting novel to read, but for me I was waiting for the threads to tie together in a rewarding payoff and to see Ailey finally learn from her mistakes and mature, and neither of those things happened. I'm in the minority here, though, in being frustrated and disappointed by this book, so clearly other people appreciated what this book was trying to do in a way that I did not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Classism
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
4 ⭐️
Wow. What to say about an 800 page novel that covers so much of American history besides the fact that I finished it? I appreciated the rich characters developed and the ways the author demonstrates how their lives are connected over centuries, including through shared trauma. The depth of historical detail in this novel is incredible, and yet at times takes away from the story. The author does not shy away from the brutalities of American slavery and of sexual abuse, which meant I read (listened to) this novel both slowly and quickly through certain parts.
Wow. What to say about an 800 page novel that covers so much of American history besides the fact that I finished it? I appreciated the rich characters developed and the ways the author demonstrates how their lives are connected over centuries, including through shared trauma. The depth of historical detail in this novel is incredible, and yet at times takes away from the story. The author does not shy away from the brutalities of American slavery and of sexual abuse, which meant I read (listened to) this novel both slowly and quickly through certain parts.
Cutting back and forth through 250 years, the narrative exposes an American history by following the generations of a Georgian family, their mixed heritage, and their tribulations.