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A review by twilliamson
Rootwork by Tracy Cross
5.0
The bildungsroman is not a genre that is infrequently paired with horror, but rarely does it feel authentic when it's done. Figures like Stephen King have often incorporated children in their stories as protagonists, and while these books often make valiant attempts at representing a coming-of-age through horror and trauma, they frequently fail to represent these children through anything other than the lens of an adult long since out of touch with childhood.
The same cannot be said of Rootwork, the first novel from Tracy Cross. Cross's characters ring with authenticity, whether it be through their dialogue, their unique points of view, or their actions throughout the book. Her commitment to verisimilitude especially shows up in her use of dialect for each of the characters' voices, and Cross anchors her characterization in the small, in-between sequences of the book as well as the major, horrific events that loom over the overarching narrative.
What stands out is just how genuinely everything seems to work together. Her novel feels lived-in, as if we're really peering into the lives of three young girls in late 19th-century Louisiana, her novel's voice ringing with the authenticity of its swampland setting. Her characters are lush, their problems meaningful and profoundly felt, and the book speaks to a modern-day relevance as her characters face many of the persistent issues of the black experience in America. It's easy to be swept up in its pages, and even easier to identify with the various struggles her child protagonists face.
Rootwork isn't a book concerned with scaring us with its horror, but instead assisting us in coping with the horrors still facing us as a society--but uses its bildungsroman foundation to deliver powerful messages about the need for agency and autonomy, the danger of prejudice and anger, and the longing for a better, brighter future. It's a relevant piece of fiction that delivers a much greater depth than its length suggests, and I cannot wait for a sequel.
The same cannot be said of Rootwork, the first novel from Tracy Cross. Cross's characters ring with authenticity, whether it be through their dialogue, their unique points of view, or their actions throughout the book. Her commitment to verisimilitude especially shows up in her use of dialect for each of the characters' voices, and Cross anchors her characterization in the small, in-between sequences of the book as well as the major, horrific events that loom over the overarching narrative.
What stands out is just how genuinely everything seems to work together. Her novel feels lived-in, as if we're really peering into the lives of three young girls in late 19th-century Louisiana, her novel's voice ringing with the authenticity of its swampland setting. Her characters are lush, their problems meaningful and profoundly felt, and the book speaks to a modern-day relevance as her characters face many of the persistent issues of the black experience in America. It's easy to be swept up in its pages, and even easier to identify with the various struggles her child protagonists face.
Rootwork isn't a book concerned with scaring us with its horror, but instead assisting us in coping with the horrors still facing us as a society--but uses its bildungsroman foundation to deliver powerful messages about the need for agency and autonomy, the danger of prejudice and anger, and the longing for a better, brighter future. It's a relevant piece of fiction that delivers a much greater depth than its length suggests, and I cannot wait for a sequel.