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A review by tanyamariereads
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
4.0
“She felt red at the bone — like there was something inside of her undone and bleeding.”
I’m so glad this was my first read for October, 2019. Jacqueline Woodson does a fabulous job of writing the various narratives of two families and strings them altogether perfectly. This novel covers generational trauma, teenage pregnancy, mother-daughter relationships, and sexual identity.
This story is told from different perspectives of two families that were thrown together due to an early and unexpected pregnancy. It starts off with the narrative of Melody, the daughter of Iris and Aubrey, and takes turns from the points of view of Iris, Aubrey, and Iris’ parents. It’s clear from the beginning that some family ties are strained and Woodson lets each of her characters explain how it came to be that way. This storyline starts of in the early 2000’s and goes into the past, and then back and forth throughout the novel. Readers see truly fleshed out characters thanks to the various points of view.
As always, I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but when the story was coming to a close, I felt like the novel had taken a slow pace for the first 3/4 of the story and then everything was rushed at the end. Despite what felt like a hasty ending to me, Woodson handles her themes in this storyline wonderfully and made this short novel into an impactful read.
I’m so glad this was my first read for October, 2019. Jacqueline Woodson does a fabulous job of writing the various narratives of two families and strings them altogether perfectly. This novel covers generational trauma, teenage pregnancy, mother-daughter relationships, and sexual identity.
This story is told from different perspectives of two families that were thrown together due to an early and unexpected pregnancy. It starts off with the narrative of Melody, the daughter of Iris and Aubrey, and takes turns from the points of view of Iris, Aubrey, and Iris’ parents. It’s clear from the beginning that some family ties are strained and Woodson lets each of her characters explain how it came to be that way. This storyline starts of in the early 2000’s and goes into the past, and then back and forth throughout the novel. Readers see truly fleshed out characters thanks to the various points of view.
As always, I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but when the story was coming to a close, I felt like the novel had taken a slow pace for the first 3/4 of the story and then everything was rushed at the end. Despite what felt like a hasty ending to me, Woodson handles her themes in this storyline wonderfully and made this short novel into an impactful read.