You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
First of all, let me say that I loved this book. It was intense and real and my heart was broken after just the first 25 pages. This is not an easy book to review, because I don't know if my words can do it justice, but I will try. The writing was beautiful and so frank that it took me a couple of chapters to get used to it, but then I couldn't put it down.
The Travelers is a book about the story of so many lives. It's almost written like short stories, where every character gets a chapter to show their lives. There are not frills or flowery language. The writing is raw and candid - things that had my heart ache, were described without many details. We just get a small glimpse into each person's emotions and for some reason that felt even more powerful to me than long explanations. Each person has gone through both happy and dark times, and the writing flow tells you that they kept living - do not dwell on one event or action. Though it may have shaped their lives or decisions, they kept moving on and so you go on with the story.
Each person is connected to another, some by significant relationships and some by thin strings, almost like ripples in a pond. They are so real and everyone is flawed, so it was hard for me to choose a favorite. This book is not a straight forward story, it tells about one person's life and then takes a seed from that and grows it into another story and another person's life.
There are so many things that addressed in this book, family, race, class, sexuality. It depicts how race is a huge factor and dominator of the character's lives throughout all generations. The fact that interracial marriage of Ruffus and Claudia can bring together so many different people, I just couldn't help but hope that it would have a ripple effect for good on the characters, but its sad to see how ingrained it is in some people. The way that Claudia's mother Agnes reacted when meeting Ruffus for the first time was absolutely heart breaking.
This story shows such a range of family relationships. There are characters who feel like family, but aren't actually related. There are people who go through horrible things together and are brought closer than family. There are secret relationships that survive or don't, but are never considered technically family. (There are a lot of references to infidelity and how it seemed almost a give in most families). There are family members who don't feel like family.
Finally, I really loved the pictures included throughout the book. When I get my hands on the finished copy, I would love to see if there is more information about them because I believe they are real photographs.
Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. I was happy to give my honest review.
The Travelers is a book about the story of so many lives. It's almost written like short stories, where every character gets a chapter to show their lives. There are not frills or flowery language. The writing is raw and candid - things that had my heart ache, were described without many details. We just get a small glimpse into each person's emotions and for some reason that felt even more powerful to me than long explanations. Each person has gone through both happy and dark times, and the writing flow tells you that they kept living - do not dwell on one event or action. Though it may have shaped their lives or decisions, they kept moving on and so you go on with the story.
Each person is connected to another, some by significant relationships and some by thin strings, almost like ripples in a pond. They are so real and everyone is flawed, so it was hard for me to choose a favorite. This book is not a straight forward story, it tells about one person's life and then takes a seed from that and grows it into another story and another person's life.
There are so many things that addressed in this book, family, race, class, sexuality. It depicts how race is a huge factor and dominator of the character's lives throughout all generations. The fact that interracial marriage of Ruffus and Claudia can bring together so many different people, I just couldn't help but hope that it would have a ripple effect for good on the characters, but its sad to see how ingrained it is in some people. The way that Claudia's mother Agnes reacted when meeting Ruffus for the first time was absolutely heart breaking.
This story shows such a range of family relationships. There are characters who feel like family, but aren't actually related. There are people who go through horrible things together and are brought closer than family. There are secret relationships that survive or don't, but are never considered technically family. (There are a lot of references to infidelity and how it seemed almost a give in most families). There are family members who don't feel like family.
Finally, I really loved the pictures included throughout the book. When I get my hands on the finished copy, I would love to see if there is more information about them because I believe they are real photographs.
Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. I was happy to give my honest review.
The Travelers is a multigenerational novel that travels across decades in America. The readers should focus on the diverse cast of characters. The novel is about two families and their perspectives during the 1950's to the Obama Era. Regina Porter uses the themes of place, culture, and time. The novel highlighted some historical events such as The Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement, racism and The AIDS crisis. There are moments will deeply move you, break your heart and teach life lessons. Porter's ability to put many historical events and theme makes this book important, innovative and relevant to current events. It's serves as a reminder for all of us to love one another.
funny
reflective
sad
Amazing writing but it was hard to follow all the different stories.
so many fucking characters, every time i’d set it down and come back i had to relearn characters
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War
so i loved the content of this book. the characters, the interweaving of familial connections and the disruptions along the way, but… there had to be some better way to weave together everyone in a way that was easier understood. this book wouldve been 5 stars, and in a way in my mind it is, but i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who hates having to remind themselves of the characters place in this huge web of connections and who isn’t willing to flip back and forth in the book. i started reading this physically and was like hell no, i need the search function on kindle to easily reference mentions of a character and it made it A LOT more digestible.
Regina Porter is constantly jumping between generations and families which made understanding this book a challenge but honestly, it’s what kept me hooked. i enjoyed piecing everyones timeline and story in my head, but at certain points of the book, i felt i was getting through it just to try to make sense of it and not because i loved it. i wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another book by regina porter ultimately, but dang was this book a workout for my brain. definitely something better read as a book club to clarify any confusion, spark discussion and create a timeline. the author has a pdf of familial connections but i found it wasn’t that helpful as it didnt specify what kind of connections they were, just that they were connected.
great stories that displayed the complexity of humanity, i loved the commentary on race, queer culture, homophobia, and misogyny but the execution could’ve been better.
Regina Porter is constantly jumping between generations and families which made understanding this book a challenge but honestly, it’s what kept me hooked. i enjoyed piecing everyones timeline and story in my head, but at certain points of the book, i felt i was getting through it just to try to make sense of it and not because i loved it. i wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another book by regina porter ultimately, but dang was this book a workout for my brain. definitely something better read as a book club to clarify any confusion, spark discussion and create a timeline. the author has a pdf of familial connections but i found it wasn’t that helpful as it didnt specify what kind of connections they were, just that they were connected.
great stories that displayed the complexity of humanity, i loved the commentary on race, queer culture, homophobia, and misogyny but the execution could’ve been better.
This book was in our Af-Am collection at the library, and I started reading it with the idea that all of the characters were African-American. Not so! I was reading along and then I realized, "These characters are white!" at the beginning of the book. I did think that that was one of the strengths of The Travelers; it has characters from white communities and Black communities and Latinx communities and how they interact and intersect is one of the themes of the story. The book is set in Manhattan, Georgia, South Carolina, Coney Island, New Hampshire, Berlin, Germany and the South Sea during the Vietnam War. It's about pride and love and marriage and children and suffering and connection and identity. Occasionally I found the relationships hard to follow, like whose grandchildren were whose, but that probably says more about me. It's rich in setting and characters and I would read another by this author.
dark
emotional
reflective
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:
Yes
i had a really hard time following the timeline, and generally nothing HAPPENED, it was just about people being awful to one another but loving each other anyway. i think. still, it was well-written.