Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

121 reviews

jade_smith's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 Firstly, I want to acknowledge that this book occupies an important place in the literary landscape. It tells a story that was important to tell, and I'm glad it's been received with acclaim. I don't doubt that this novel has done a lot of important things for a lot of people -- and I don't wish for my criticism to be taken as a mark that this was a "bad book." It wasn't.

This being said, it didn't quite work for me.

For a novel that is (should have been) character-driven, the ten-odd POV characters lacked distinct voices. There are two types of third person writing: that which comes from inside a character, and that which comes from outside, i.e. from an omniscient narrator. Technically, this book has both, with some chapters from an almost pansophical ancestral chorus. For the most part, however, chapters are from the POV of "The Prophets" vast cast of characters on the Mississipi plantation. The problem is that these characters voices are mostly indistinguishable from each other; every character speaks, thinks, and philosophises in the exact same voice. For me, this made it hard to form an emotional connection with the characters, and left the story feeling unthethered. I think this novel would have benefitted from leaning into the 'external' third person -- this would have allowed Jones to observe and describe in the way he wanted to, without it feeling like the characters coherence suffered.

While at times gorgeous, Robert Jones Jr's prose erred on the side of being overwritten. I will be the first to admit that there were definitely metaphors and references here that went over my head -- I am a white Australian, and Jones has said that he wrote with a black American audience in mind. But, this incongruence doesn't account for the entire novel. I think perhaps this writing style would have worked for me had this been a 150 pg novella, but as it stands, it became exhausting, and worsened the afformentioned probems with character voice.

Plot-wise, this book works. Story-wise, this book works. Conceptually, the characters are excellent. It's just a shame that the prose ultimately lets itself down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Transphobia and Vomit

edwardsmc32's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

While it took me awhile to get into the book and begin to understand the characters and story as it was being laid out, it picked up tremendously and pulled me in and then broke my heart. The author has a way of letting you into each character’s heart and mind while still keeping the main characters the main characters. While difficult to read at times, it is a beautifully tragic story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

perocojones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, and Slavery

cnmartin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Slavery

lenin_lover_69's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Murder

kiwialexa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

raoulalexander's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

Very strong with regards to character development + building tension between characters by seeing many different POVs, but to what end? The ending was explosive but a bit disappointing. For me, the flashbacks to a precolonial African society didn't add much as they weren't well enough connected to the rest of the story. The character work was remarkable enough though that I would pick up this author's next work, there's definitely great potential here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

cococorycollins's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Colonisation

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I just hope this book makes enough white readers feel enough anger and shame to contact our electeds about reparations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Religious trauma, Environmental degradation

noahsingh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

Mixed feelings about this one! Some aspects of the book weren't developed enough (imho) and I felt a bit let down by the ending but there were lots of aspects I did enjoy., including the writing itself and the main characters of Samuel and Kayode.
Pros: 
-Everyone has already said this but yeah obviously the writing is really good. 
- Enjoyed that we get a perspective chapter from almost every enslaved character. Especially enjoyed Maggie and Sarah's perspectives. 
-Samuel and Kayodes relationship is beautifully written. Its the first book I've read set during the transatlantic slave trade with focuses on queer black characters, and it was really interesting to read a perspective on that.
-I loved loved loved the King Asuka chapters, my only complaint there is that I wish there had been a lot more of that narrative in general. Same for Sarah's narrative. The exploration of black queerness and transness as not yet warped by slavery and colonialism is definitely one of the strongest aspects of this book to me. 
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And of course, white people being killed by the people they enslaved is always V satisfying, Samuel killing Timothy was great 10/10

Cons:
-Not enough time spent with each characters, and I didn't see the need for Paul's chapters being so long. 
-I personally don't enjoy too much description/poetic language which gets in the way of the actual narrative, which I think this book suffered from a bit. Its all very well-written but I think some of it could have definitely been cut down. But this is a personal bias of mine obvy. 
-Some elements of the book were underdeveloped, for example the Beulah/Be Auntie connection, the Seven/Vs the Seven aunts, etc 
-So so so much (trigger warning) rape. I understand it's historically accurate to the enslavement of black individuals in America but the explicitness and repeated graphic descriptions seemed unnecessary and kinda excessive for me. For example,

having both Ruth and Timothy assault Samuel seemed like way too much. Ruths assault of Samuel didn't add anything to the story and could have easily either been removed or referred to rather than graphically described.

 

-A lot of the characters don't get a conclusive ending, of course that's hard to do when most of the characters are enslaved individuals and escape from slavery was practically impossible.

  However we never have any idea what happens to Adam, we leave Beulah/Be Aunties story the moment Beulah actually takes control (which felt like a cop-out to me), and I didnt see the need for Samuel to lead Kayode away from the plantation as a ghost, just for Kayode to die almost immediately anyway. And of course what happens to Essie, Puah, Maggie etc is all left up in the air.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol