A review by astoriareader
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

emotional informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

SYNOPSIS
  • Ebby Freeman, the daughter of a wealthy Black family, has spent her life haunted by a childhood tragedy—the murder of her brother, Baz, during a home invasion that also destroyed a cherished family heirloom, a clay jar called Old Mo. 
  • Passed down for generations, the jar held more than history; it was a symbol of the Freeman family’s resilience, rooted in their ancestors’ journey from enslavement to freedom. 
  • Now, after being left at the altar and grappling with public scrutiny, Ebby flees to France to escape her unraveling life. But as she pieces together her past, she discovers that the secrets of Old Mo might hold the answers to her future.

MY THOUGHTS
  • Good Dirt explores some heavy and important themes—grief, survivor’s guilt, intergenerational trauma, and how the long-term impacts of a single tragedy ripple through time. 
  • It’s clear the author poured a lot of research and thought into crafting this story, and the writing itself is beautiful in places. 
  • The idea of a family heirloom like Old Mo symbolizing survival and resilience was compelling, and I appreciated how the story tied personal pain to historical struggles.
  • That said, the execution didn’t fully land for me. The pacing was incredibly slow and dragged in several places, which made it hard to stay engaged. The nonlinear structure and the sheer number of characters and subplots felt overwhelming at times—I found myself flipping back to remind myself who was who and where I was in the timeline. While the story’s layers were ambitious, it often felt fragmented rather than cohesive.
  • The ending left me feeling underwhelmed—it lacked the emotional punch I was hoping for after such a buildup. 
  • And I really wasn’t a fan of how Henry’s character was handled. Without giving too much away, his role in the story felt mishandled.
  • Overall, this is a book with a lot of heart and an important message, but the slow pacing, scattered structure, and underwhelming ending held it back for me.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐⭐️ Beautifully written and well-researched, tackling heavy themes like grief and trauma, but it suffers from slow pacing, a fragmented structure, and an anti-climactic ending. Still worth a read—plus, based on reviews, I am in the minority with my opinion!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for this digital ARC in exchanges for an honest review. This book will be published on January 28, 2025.
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