A review by jaygabler
Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

Newton touches on some essential questions: how to understand our relationship to our ancestors in a world where we can test our own DNA and connect it to a growing database, how to reckon with the legacy of white supremacy and the erasure it’s wrought. That said, this might have worked better as a long essay than a book. We’re asked to spend a lot of time tracking the details of the author’s extended family history, and with such a wide-ranging text the payoff gets diluted. Her immediate family story is so striking and sad, to use it as a hook for such a large amount of information (epigenetics, spirituality, ancient history) undercuts the structure of this vital but sprawling meditation.
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