A review by silverliningsandpages
The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


A bold and dazzling debut about forbidden love between two gay Black slaves on a plantation in the Deep South. 

Robert Jones, Jnr has described the journey of writing The Prophets, feelings of isolation from his lineage as a Black gay person, questioning whether Black gay people even existed in such times, and concluding that of course they did, but the traumatic past would have been buried and erased.  Despite his reservations in exploring such uncharted territory, the author has dug deep in his research of pre-colonial African history on the topic.  Telling this story has clearly been a heavy, personal burden to carry, but the book is an absolute triumph.  Constructed in chapters named after books in the Bible, and told from the perspectives of fully developed characters, the heartfelt writing soars.  It’s one of the most brutal and harrowing depictions of slavery I’ve ever read, yet it is also lyrical, otherworldly and epic in scale.  The quiet moments between the two young men are very delicately and tenderly wrought; love and fragments of joy can light up the darkest of times.

The accumulating praise for this book is absolutely justified, and its publication this week was all the more poignant for the horrific events unfolding in Washington.  This is a remarkable book, which is bound to receive nominations for literary awards this year. For anyone seeking to educate themselves on race and diversity, I wholeheartedly recommend it; it’s a call to understand, and a lesson on the meaning of compassion and real love.

Finally, the following passage sadly is very relevant to what we are still seeing today:
“They pushed people into the mud and then called them filthy.  They forbade people from accessing any knowledge of the world and then called them simple...They stepped on people’s throats with all their might and asked why the people couldn’t breathe.  And then, when people made an attempt to break the foot, or cut it off, they screamed “CHAOS!” and claimed that mass murder was the only way to restore order.”

Thank you Riverrun Books for the review copy in exchange for an honest opinion
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