Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

33 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

This is a book I was recommended by a member of an online book club. I really had no idea what it would be about and sometimes I like to go into things with no preconceptions. The focus of this book is telling an intergenerational story of a family. It is fiction, but has the feel of several intergenerational narratives I have liked, such as Wild Swans. The focus of the narrative is Feminist and is an account of the history of Black Americans in the South (specifically Georgia).

Having read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, a lot of the plot points of this book were familiar. If you haven't learned much about the Antebellum South, this could be quite rough going. As a historian (main character) Ailey Pearl Garfield is often shaken, and moved to tears, by the accounts she unearths about happenings in her family's past.

This story is nuanced, and the characters feel like people rather than archetypes. Weaving a history filled with trauma would be pretty much impossible without some levity and there is a lot of dialogue that lightens the mood. Some of the humour is utterly hilarious and there are often call-backs to information about minor characters that pepper the backstory with shared in-jokes and form a real sense of this family inhabiting a rich world and community. There are a couple of LGBT characters in the story, and a family history of Dyslexia which becomes apparent as Ailey digs deeper into her family's story.

I could write an entire page to describe the content warnings... but I won't. Let's just say that Racism is the tip of a horrible, bloody iceberg, and that genocide, sexual abuse, physical abuse, suicide, drug addiction, miscarriage, gaslighting and oppression of various forms are all in this book. It's a big book.. there are a lot of words.. and not all of it is pretty.

The Audiobook is beautifully narrated by 3 different voice talents, and the story spans several different timelines, so if you are "reading" by Audiobook it's a good idea to download the supplemental material that lists the genealogy of the family, so you don't get lost.

Thoroughly recommend this book. I found myself really excited by some revelations near the end and more than once I got body chills and frisson from emotionally resonant bits. This would be a great bookclub read if you have people who read at about the same pace, and don't mind tomes that exceed 800 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

bugzecat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

There is much to say about this book. It’s the longest book I’ve ever read and I simply don’t have the words to express how deeply this book affected me at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

permanme's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, Abortion, and Alcohol

cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Blood, Abortion, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Police brutality and Religious bigotry

shoshthemost's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Abortion, Colonisation, and Classism

ruffian23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

syellico'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is an undertaking. I read it with a group over 3 months as a slow and steady which I know affected my experience. Prolonging some of the absolutely horrible subject matter probably made it an even more difficult read than it is. 
In the end, I was just ready to be done and I probably missed some impact because of it. 
For me, it was just too long and I never was able to completely keep track of the multitude of characters. Major trigger warnings abound.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

rustynailsfullset's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Incest, Racism, Rape, Slavery, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

3littlewordz's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

 “Even in a place of sorrow, time passes. Even in a place of joy." And so passes time in the Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. 

This book was perfect. Simply incredibly perfect. I’ve seen people in the book-osphere that have mentioned wanting to be able to read a book again for the first time, and this is one of those books. I already know that this epic novel is one of my top reads of all time. Yes, I’ve already called it. 

So many themes were explored in the centuries covered in this storyline: slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the displacement and genocide of Indigenous people, sexual assault/incest, casual racism and racial terror, colorism (including passing), distrust, family secrets, drug addiction, segregation, life at an HBCU vs. PWI, the journey through academia as a black person…so many more. Another throughline explored beautifully was the Black American’s relationship to food, and how it could be both soothing and harmful. And of course, Du Bois!! His pen is razor-sharp and I absolutely love how the quotes at the beginning of each Song were so superbly chosen for that portion of the book. Ultimately, the strong family bonds wrapped me up like a warm, cozy blanket, even when the family dealt with strife and pain. 

Now, there are SEVERAL triggers in this book, and several themes mentioned above are explored in rather explicit detail. If you haven't yet started on the path to healing for those triggers (mainly sexual assault and abuse), some parts of this story may be too heavy for you. I finished some chapters and had to close my eyes and decompress. 

Jeffers' writing style is exquisite. I particularly enjoyed the historical anchors (beyond simple dates) included throughout the novel that oriented me to time and place. It's easy to tell that she's a poet by the phrasing and descriptions used throughout. Her world-building was so expansive and wonderfully done that I blinked and devoured 50-100 pages at a time. I actually read all except the very first chapter in 8 days - I didn't mind reading all 800 pages quickly! 

Simply put, read this book. And if you’ve already read this and are equally as enamored with this type of story as I am, I strongly recommend Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

ladykhari's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, and Classism