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A review by firstiteration
Jam on the Vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett
5.0
For me, Jam on the Vine is the best kind of historical fiction.
From its first pages, I found Jam on the Vine to be very engaging. The voices of Ivoe and the other characters are strong and easy to slip in to, and I quickly became invested in their world and lives. Barnett's writing and characterization are both strong, and pave the way for this novel to do great things.
I will admit that as a white Canadian, I knew extraordinarily little about late 19th and early 20th century America. Barnett does a great job of giving you details about that time period in the southern US while still maintaining a narrative and strong characters. The characters grow and change as their world around them changes, and the interplay between those two things is one of the strongest parts of the novel.
I think Jam on the Vine is the best kind of historical fiction because it's so alive. The injustices faced by the black characters in the novel aren't just in the past - they're alive in our present. And while I enjoyed reading this novel as a piece of fiction, it also allowed me to grow my own understanding of how anti-black racism has functioned as an institution for hundreds of years, and how that history stacks up and shapes the present I live in. I'm also thankful that Barnett included her notes about research in the back of the book, opening up opportunity for readers to pursue their own research and to drive the point home that although this is fiction, it's very strongly based in real events.
An excellent novel. I hope Barnett writes more soon.
From its first pages, I found Jam on the Vine to be very engaging. The voices of Ivoe and the other characters are strong and easy to slip in to, and I quickly became invested in their world and lives. Barnett's writing and characterization are both strong, and pave the way for this novel to do great things.
I will admit that as a white Canadian, I knew extraordinarily little about late 19th and early 20th century America. Barnett does a great job of giving you details about that time period in the southern US while still maintaining a narrative and strong characters. The characters grow and change as their world around them changes, and the interplay between those two things is one of the strongest parts of the novel.
I think Jam on the Vine is the best kind of historical fiction because it's so alive. The injustices faced by the black characters in the novel aren't just in the past - they're alive in our present. And while I enjoyed reading this novel as a piece of fiction, it also allowed me to grow my own understanding of how anti-black racism has functioned as an institution for hundreds of years, and how that history stacks up and shapes the present I live in. I'm also thankful that Barnett included her notes about research in the back of the book, opening up opportunity for readers to pursue their own research and to drive the point home that although this is fiction, it's very strongly based in real events.
An excellent novel. I hope Barnett writes more soon.