2.78k reviews for:

Let Us Descend

Jesmyn Ward

3.86 AVERAGE

chagrn's review

4.75

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Lyrical masterpiece that was hard to read. 

blake_bakes's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional 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

tstram's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

ames_101's review

2.5

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

beartownandbraids's review

4.0

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This is the second book of Ward's I've read and wow was it incredible. I was hooked right away. She writes with such mystery that I found myself re-reading the page thinking I had missed something...but she had a reason for that. This book made me think of The Water Dancer at times.

laurap's review

3.75

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

cowdoy's review

4.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

richard_choi's review

4.5

adventurous hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Beautifully written. Adds hope to an overall very raw and problematic history. Poetic. 

nicolemoses17's review

4.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

mary_mason's review

3.0

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I have absolutely LOVED everything I’ve read from Jesmyn Ward, so I thought this would be another absolute masterpiece for me, but I really just could not get through this one. I picked it up and put it down three times over a year before actually finishing it. The writing, as always with her, is beautiful, but it the story seemed to lack some of the sharpness that her others had? I don’t feel like Annis’ voice is as raw and real as the voices in her other novels, which is frustrating because there are not really any other characters who linger. Overall I feel like I just kind of floated through this one, which was disappointing. Sing, Unburied, Sing still takes the cake for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery