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A review by em_reads_books
Jam on the Vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett
5.0
This book asks a lot of the reader. It's not always clear or linear, making you read carefully between the lines at times. It feels longer than its actual page count because every sentence is doing work; no word is superfluous or just there to move the action along. You've got a big family of characters to keep track of, and the perspective shifts from person to person without warning. And it asks you to read in plainspoken terms about horrific acts of violence, sometimes throwing them in casually as if to underscore how easily white people can use their power for cruelty.
Not to mention, it spends many chapters thwarting its heroine's dreams, frustrating her and threatening her dignity and livelihood. Often historical fiction will deliver you right to the heart of the story, opening doors that might not have realistically been there to get a character to an interesting job or meeting with someone important. In this case, the years of menial labor and race/gender-based rejection from newspaper jobs are as much a part of the story as anything else.
All of this is absolutely worth it - seeing Ivoe grow into who she is meant to be requires a long journey to be as satisfying as it is. The purpose and joy she finds in the last chapters feels well earned.
Not to mention, it spends many chapters thwarting its heroine's dreams, frustrating her and threatening her dignity and livelihood. Often historical fiction will deliver you right to the heart of the story, opening doors that might not have realistically been there to get a character to an interesting job or meeting with someone important. In this case, the years of menial labor and race/gender-based rejection from newspaper jobs are as much a part of the story as anything else.
All of this is absolutely worth it - seeing Ivoe grow into who she is meant to be requires a long journey to be as satisfying as it is. The purpose and joy she finds in the last chapters feels well earned.