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

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

 
My 10th Aspen Words Longlist read done! And the one that was most intimidating, size-wise. I had actually bought this one for myself a while ago, I think before the longlist was even announced, actually. But I waited til I could get the audiobook from the library to go with it, because I knew I was going to need the dual media to keep myself steady reading through it. And while I was right about that (I think I'm becoming deeply dependent on audiobooks to move me through longer or more slower paced reads, both nonfiction and fiction, now), I also did not want to stop reading/listening. I found myself pulling it up even when I only had 10 or 15 free minutes because I was just that invested in the characters and their development. Anyways, onwards to the review! 
 
Ailey Pearl Garfield, of Georgia, is descended from enslaved persons and tenant farmers. Although she herself is raised in the City, where her father is a doctor, she spends the summer with her mother's family in the rural town they've lived in for generations. From childhood, Ailey has felt the burden of her family's expectations, especially the women of her family, on her shoulders, from the distant ancestors she hears in her dreams to her mother and older sister. As both Ailey's own childhood trauma and the historical trauma of her family are revealed on page through alternating past and present story-telling, a portrait of her family's complex and interwoven past - Indigenous, Black, white - comes into focus, in a way both intimate and representative. Throughout, all the motifs Jeffers and Ailey uncover together are pulled together in thematic and literary fashion by passages from (and stories of) the great W.E.B. Du Bois. 
 
This is the most sweeping saga of a novel that I have read in a while; incredibly ambitious in scope of both time and character. With novels like this, I am not even sure where to begin, because the fact that the blurb focuses solely on Ailey does nothing to show the breadth of family development we get throughout the novels, from the generations of ancestor and the stories of these people whose only legacy is in the memories of the bones of their descendants to Ailey's direct family, like her mother and grandmothers, her older sisters Coco and Lydia, and especially her Uncle Root. They are all so robust, as much Ailey herself, and their on-page voices deserve the justice of having a greater voice in the book blurb. And they experience so much in these pages. Which sounds obvious, but considering how many novels are told about just a single character, and this is an entire family tree over two centuries, it's almost too much to comprehend. That being said, I was deeply impressed with the way Jeffers was able to distill their voices down to the aspects that most defined them, that made them the most human, giving them full-throated life with what she chose to narrate, from the smallest daily details to the largest historical contexts. And while overwhelming at times, because of course it must be, it never felt too bogged down or too rushed; a most impressive handle on pacing for a book of this size. 
 
Using Ailey as the centerpiece for this family epic was a lovely literary device, allowing us to see in dual ways how history unfolded for those who lived it (during the "Song" portions of the novel), and the myriad ways that that history impacts present day circumstances, both individually and in general. Getting the many perspectives of other members of Ailey's family also allowed for a wonderful exploration of how many different ways people have chosen to deal with and survive (or not) the lives handed to them by history and other forces outside their control. The obvious primary themes in this novel center around the Black experience throughout the history of America, from the first days of slavery through the (more or less) present day. This is very closely intertwined, at least in the earliest parts of the story, though these family threads are lost to knowledge over the generations (due to being purposefully hidden and otherwise), with Indigenous, Creek specifically, histories and ancestry in both the Georgia area and Ailey's own family. In parallel with that, the idea of trauma was closely knit into the fabric of this book. There is a fascinating parallel/mirrored look at inter-generational trauma alongside repeated childhood sexual abuse (major CW here), the way that both follow a person like a shadow throughout life that cannot be escaped, only coped with. Seeing Ailey move through the complicated task of dealing with each of these, and the ways they affected her both tangible and intangible, was incredibly affecting...and effective. There was also a lot of material gaslighting (like, a lot), as well as an elaborate look at colorism within the Black community, and quite a bit of heavy-handed morality about sex and morality. These were very insightfully addressed topics, but were at times intense in a way that could be triggering.  
 
As always, I want to highlight the nuanced sibling relationships, as these are always highlights for me when done well. I loved the way Ailey, Coco and Lydia shared uncompromising love and also trauma, closely held secrets and absolute support, and the different ways they each handled and showed these things. It was just perfectly complex in its dual tragedy and joy. I also want to highlight Ailey's relationship with her Uncle Root, a primary thread throughout the novel and the most strong, heartwarming and wholesome relationships I have read recently. Overall, I loved basically everything about the intricacy of Ailey's stories and relationships, from the family to the romantic, but I want to also say that that was where I learned about her, through the way she was with others. I am not sure Ailey ever developed, at least what I felt like, was her own voice... She always felt a bit more like a representation or archetype than an individual, despite the overall story revolving around her, as those around her seemed to steer her and she tended to follow the paths laid out for her. Perhaps this was purposeful, to show that our history and our relationships are the guiding forces in the options we have and who we become, but Ailey consistently felt most real to me through others' eyes, rather than in her own right. 
 
What a saga this was; of family, of Black history, of both intertwined. This is history come alive. It’s an intensity of individual and personal experience through which to experience such a swath of time. It’s such a pervasive sense of voice and illustration of both that history and the way it insidiously, both obviously and subtly, structures and influences our present day, and the many, many ways that people process that reality of oppression and resistance and resilience and tragedy throughout the years. Brilliant. 
 
“Some places make you feel good for a while, but you can’t stay.” 
 
“He didn’t know that you could ache for a place, even when it had hurt you so badly.” 
 
“How to explain what it was like to be Black to this white woman who wasn't even southern? That a Black child didn't have a right to hate their Black mama? Hatred was not allowed against your parents, no matter what had happened. You had to forgive your parents for whatever they had done even if they'd never apologized, because everybody had to stay together. So much had been lost already to Black folks.” 
 
“Even in a place of sorrow, time passes. Even in a place of joy. Do not assume that either keeps life from continuing, for there are children everywhere.” 
 
“Every lover lies to herself, in small or large ways.” 
 
“When we speak about history, we speak about somebody’s life.” 
 

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