2.89k reviews for:

Let Us Descend

Jesmyn Ward

3.86 AVERAGE

mirandamesaa's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

rachel_drenning's review

4.0

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A great book by Jesmyn. Loved the magical Realism. There have been soooo many books about racism out this year, I'm burned out on that trope, However. It's like this year, every favorite author of mine, decided to tackle this subject. So maybe I should have paced then apart.

I did love her Salvage The Bones book the best. It's my favorite by her.

dezzz0322's review

3.0

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The prose is poetic, lyrical, and beautiful. But there’s a passivity to the writing that omits tension from the plot, which makes the story feel slow — which is surprising, since the plot is actually incredibly brutal. But descriptions of violent, action-filled scenes that should have made my heart race (or at least moved me) were purposefully told at arm’s length, as if the narrator was viewing the scene from 30,000 feet rather than participating in it herself. I also struggled with the magical realism, and couldn’t connect with either of the spirit characters in the book. I wanted to love this, but found myself eager to get to the end.

maggie98's review

3.5

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

dkalid's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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: No

smkmurph's review

3.5

dark emotional reflective sad 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

dogswithnogs's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

readingwithathena96's review against another edition

3.0

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3.5/5

First and foremost, this book was beautifully written. The language was lush and evocative- almost like poetry. However, I found that the plot was a bit slow-moving, and the magical realism clouded my experience. I do think this was a case of "right book, wrong time"; I recently read another book with similar elements and found myself struggling similarly.

This was my first Jesmyn Ward book, and I'm excited to read her other works. This just didn't land the way I wanted it to this time around.

thebooksofemily's review

5.0

emotional

rmbsmith_03's review

2.0

mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A