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4.6 AVERAGE
4.6 AVERAGE
The Love Songs of W. E. B. DuBois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers is about growing up and about owning your history - the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. At over 800 pages, the book takes the time to develop characters and the story of Ailey Pearl Garfield and her family across decades. In that evolution, the book seamlessly embeds history and culture. The story is at the same time deeply personal and historically global.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2022/12/the-love-songs-of-w-e-b-dubois.html
Reviewed for NetGalley.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2022/12/the-love-songs-of-w-e-b-dubois.html
Reviewed for NetGalley.
I’m going to think about this for a long time. Didn’t love the end.
This book is beautiful. It is powerful. It is heavy (both emotionally and physically).
The novel spans the course of hundreds of years, connecting the lives of black women throughout the course of American history. Very rarely do we find a novel that adequately addresses the true dark past of American history, where each tragedy—the callousness of slave trading where humans, the stealing of land and subsequent resettling of Native Americans, the physical and sexual violence bestowed upon slaves by inhumane masters—is seamlessly woven together yet somehow gets the attention and honor it deserves.
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is clearly an ambitious and talented writer. Her efforts pay off on every page of this 797-page novel.
The novel spans the course of hundreds of years, connecting the lives of black women throughout the course of American history. Very rarely do we find a novel that adequately addresses the true dark past of American history, where each tragedy—the callousness of slave trading where humans, the stealing of land and subsequent resettling of Native Americans, the physical and sexual violence bestowed upon slaves by inhumane masters—is seamlessly woven together yet somehow gets the attention and honor it deserves.
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is clearly an ambitious and talented writer. Her efforts pay off on every page of this 797-page novel.
This book is dense and lovely and you can feel the work that went into it in the best way.
A gorgeously layered coming-of-age story. I raced through this (because I loved it, and it says something about the quality of the writing when an 800-page behemoth feels about half its size) and probably didn’t allow myself to think enough about the parallels between the timelines - but they’re done purposefully to enhance the novel’s journey through history and underscore the shared experiences of Ailey and her ancestors. I can’t recommend this enough. And I adore Uncle Root beyond measure.
SUCH a good book. Long but worth the effort.
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abortion
Finally finished. I’m very impressed with what the author undertook and in theory liked how the author laid it out:jumping from history to more current times and connecting them at the end. There is clearly an immense amount of research gone into this book and it truly gives you a sense of time and place.
However I felt a lot of it got lost and bogged down in too much added material. It needing trimming down by a couple of hundred pages to make it more readable and for the very important points and issues to stand out more clearly. I lost the thread of the narrative and needed an overview, timeline or cast of characters to help me keep it straight.
I’m in the minority though so I encourage you to give it a go. For you it may be a five star!
However I felt a lot of it got lost and bogged down in too much added material. It needing trimming down by a couple of hundred pages to make it more readable and for the very important points and issues to stand out more clearly. I lost the thread of the narrative and needed an overview, timeline or cast of characters to help me keep it straight.
I’m in the minority though so I encourage you to give it a go. For you it may be a five star!
The author took her time in really bringing us along through the history and the psychological pain of slavery and generational trauma. It’s a beautiful, heavy and emotional read with such well crafted character development that helps understand humans themselves. A labor of love. Bravo.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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