A review by bibliofilth
Dessa Rose by Sherley Anne Williams

3.0

Was into it in the beginning but it lost me in the latter part of the novel. It felt like it was purposefully slow and building to something but then the ending was rushed. Switch to first person was jarring. Ironically, for a novel primarily about characters the two main characters are pretty vague. Their relationship with each other is stagnant for a good chunk of the novel, but by the time they start to warm up to each other/become friends it takes place in the span of only 20 pages or so, which reduces the emotional payoff. I would've also liked to see Dessa interact with her child more. He's such an important part of the story but he's treated more like a prop and she spends more time thinking about her rivalry than she does her baby.

That being said, writing is good, characters are interesting, and it doesn't shy away from horrific/risque topics. The depiction of slavery is terrifying but realistic. I also thought that having the white character come to recognize the system for what it truly is was a nice way of guiding the reader to the same destination. The switching between perspectives worked well here.

Decent read, some excellent parts but ultimately a bit of a letdown for me.