bullockae's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
claire_melanie's review against another edition
5.0
Powerful, devastating, deeply moving, and brilliant. An incredible family saga that covered 500 years of American invasion, slavery, and contemporary race relations.
blessr10's review against another edition
5.0
An epic of a book. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois follows generations of Ailey Pearl Garfield’s family starting with the Indigenous people who lived on the land, the enslaved people who were forced to work the land, up to Barack Obama’s run for president. This book has moved me to tears several times and was deeply relatable. A must have and a must read!
sam_bizar_wilcox's review against another edition
4.0
This is a large and audacious novel, as smart as it is devastating. Spanning multiple generations, this novel ostensibly uncovers the horrendous trauma that three sisters experienced as children and the events in history that mirror (or portend) that trauma. With the sisters, Jeffers is able to scrutinize how the same type of trauma leaves vastly different consequences for different people, before writing flashbacks that take the reader into the era when the Creek/Muscogee people were displaced from what is now rural Georgia, where Jeffers produces a family lineage that slinks back into the present.
While this novel is sprawling, Jeffers has full control of her prose. More impressively, however, she is able to mellifluously give voice to different characters in a courageous (and horrifying) polyphony. It is telling that Jeffers has a background in poetry; her writing here demonstrates a lyrical precision that can render an epic, multifaceted 800-page door-stopper such a page-turner (and, given the graphic nature of some of what happens, this feat is all the more impressive).
This is a stylishly assured and fearsome novel. Haunting and beautiful (and perhaps more haunting because of its beauty).
While this novel is sprawling, Jeffers has full control of her prose. More impressively, however, she is able to mellifluously give voice to different characters in a courageous (and horrifying) polyphony. It is telling that Jeffers has a background in poetry; her writing here demonstrates a lyrical precision that can render an epic, multifaceted 800-page door-stopper such a page-turner (and, given the graphic nature of some of what happens, this feat is all the more impressive).
This is a stylishly assured and fearsome novel. Haunting and beautiful (and perhaps more haunting because of its beauty).
han_reads_13579's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
kaloughl's review against another edition
5.0
This book really won me over with it's brilliant writing and entrancing story. Honestly, I was intimidated by the length and title (especially as someone who doesn't love poetry) but the blurb was so good and it sounded right up my alley. I brought home a physical ARC months ago but was so relieved when Libro.fm offered it as a June ALC because this is the form I really wanted to read it in! The narrators, Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton & Prentice Onayemi, all have gorgeous voices and immediately draw you in. It took a bit for me to get fully invested in the story but holy cow, Jeffers weaves an IMPRESSIVE tale. It was both too long and too short; I savored every word and was sad it when it was over. There is true talent in being able to hold your attention for 816 pages, especially for a slow burn of a literary novel.
Jeffers weaves us the history of one Southern family through many generations. Her main timeline ("current day") is Ailey, the youngest of three sisters named for the great Alvin Ailey and her grandmother Pearl. We witness most of Ailey's life, from her childhood days to her college years to post-grad and figuring out what she wants to do with her life. Interspersed with those sections are narratives of different people, mostly women, along Ailey's family line that emphasize the inherited trauma and "Double Consciousness" (a term coined by W. E. B. DeBois) of slaves and Indigenous peoples. As we are learning Ailey's familial history and all the strong women she is descended from, Ailey is slowly figuring out her life path and ultimately learning the same storied and troubled history of her line.
Like I said earlier, this is a slow burn but it captures your attention like no other and is well worth it in the end. With rich language, multi-generational family history, borderline poetic (and yet not intimidatng poetic), this book is for fans Pachinko, Homegoing, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, or any work of Jesmyn Ward's.
Jeffers weaves us the history of one Southern family through many generations. Her main timeline ("current day") is Ailey, the youngest of three sisters named for the great Alvin Ailey and her grandmother Pearl. We witness most of Ailey's life, from her childhood days to her college years to post-grad and figuring out what she wants to do with her life. Interspersed with those sections are narratives of different people, mostly women, along Ailey's family line that emphasize the inherited trauma and "Double Consciousness" (a term coined by W. E. B. DeBois) of slaves and Indigenous peoples. As we are learning Ailey's familial history and all the strong women she is descended from, Ailey is slowly figuring out her life path and ultimately learning the same storied and troubled history of her line.
Like I said earlier, this is a slow burn but it captures your attention like no other and is well worth it in the end. With rich language, multi-generational family history, borderline poetic (and yet not intimidatng poetic), this book is for fans Pachinko, Homegoing, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, or any work of Jesmyn Ward's.
mrspenningalovesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
This book blew me away structurally, poetically, historically, and with the ancestral character development. It is almost 800 pages, and really kept me engaged the entire time. It’s split between the love songs of the past and then chapters in the present. As it gets further along, you see the ancestral lines connect. TW: a lot of sexual assault in both parts, as well as drug use, violence, and loss. But, they are all a part of America’s story, and it’s very well done. She discusses the crimes committed against Afro-Indigenous people as well as how the lineage begins with a young girl captured from her home in Africa. Jeffers wrote in her archival coda, “As painful as it was, reading about sexual violence toward Black women and girls it helped me with the necessary creative depictions.”
It is one of those books I am proud to have read—the allusions to W.E.B. DuBois connect the themes of scholar, education, ancestral recognition, and voices fighting for equality.
It is one of those books I am proud to have read—the allusions to W.E.B. DuBois connect the themes of scholar, education, ancestral recognition, and voices fighting for equality.
louisawilliams's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
t_wayne's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
catlove9's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0