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A review by adrienne_adrimano
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
2.0
Suffering, even when described with pretty turns of phrase and narrated with a gentle, enticing fervency, is still suffering.
I commend [a:Jesmyn Ward|1676417|Jesmyn Ward|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1314898674p2/1676417.jpg] for writing creatively on such a tough topic (slavery), but I truly don't think I was enriched by this novel. Worse, I don't think I get it.
I don't think the bee motif was effective. It seemed random, like the author just picked something that could whimsically (within the few possible uncontrolled happenings in the lives of the enslaved) start and end the story.
Was using the word "descend" literally and figuratively so many times necessary?
Why detail the learning of a useful skill to have the main character never really use it?
Why bring up these sprits that are supposedly so powerful and all-knowing, and have them be even worse antagonists than the enslavers??
This is another book that proves that an author can write a tragedy that has been written many times, mind you, especially about slavery, and the critics are gonna eat it up and give it all the glory. We deserve more. Runaway slave? Fine. And then what? What does the average reader take away from this?
I commend [a:Jesmyn Ward|1676417|Jesmyn Ward|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1314898674p2/1676417.jpg] for writing creatively on such a tough topic (slavery), but I truly don't think I was enriched by this novel. Worse, I don't think I get it.
I don't think the bee motif was effective. It seemed random, like the author just picked something that could whimsically (within the few possible uncontrolled happenings in the lives of the enslaved) start and end the story.
Was using the word "descend" literally and figuratively so many times necessary?
Why detail the learning of a useful skill to have the main character never really use it?
Why bring up these sprits that are supposedly so powerful and all-knowing, and have them be even worse antagonists than the enslavers??
This is another book that proves that an author can write a tragedy that has been written many times, mind you, especially about slavery, and the critics are gonna eat it up and give it all the glory. We deserve more. Runaway slave? Fine. And then what? What does the average reader take away from this?