Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Title: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
Author: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Chicasetta, GA / Harlem, NYC
Month Read: February, 2022
Book Type: Hardcover
Publication: 2021
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 816
TRIGGER WARNING-
There are too many to name, but some big ones include:
Racism / Genocide / Rape / Incest / Pedophilia / Suicide / Murder / Slavery
"We are the earth, the land. The tongue that speaks and trips on the names of the dead as it dares to tell these stories of a woman’s line. Her people and her dirt, her trees,"
No Spoiler Summary:
The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois is a tour-de-force novel following a family from the slave trade to the civil war to modern day America, with many stops in-between. It ties in different works of W.E.B. Du Bois as you weave your way through time, and takes you on an incredible journey through centuries of Georgia.
Review:
I'm blown away by how incredible this novel is, and had no idea how many twists and turns I would be taken on while I read this. I wept, I cheered, I felt loss, sorrow, happiness, regret. It's an absolute must read novel for me, but I know the people who need to read this book most never will.
I loved the split timelines, and I think the characters were all so perfectly placed where they needed to be in this book. I loved getting to follow the same plot of land through so much time, and when I started piecing together that these were all descendants of the original Native Americans living in that space, it was beautiful.
There are a LOT of tough subjects in this book, and the hardest part for me is the chapters and chapters and chapters of slave child rape. If you're sensitive to this at all, I just want to make sure people really know this going in. It's very tragic, as everything about slavery is, but nothing is spared in detailing these horrific crimes against fellow humans.
There is also some tough chapters about drug abuse, and it was just so sad seeing one of my favorite characters fall really hard due to drug use. It really brought things into perspective that it doesn't matter who you are, your family support system, your dreams--- it can all be taken away so, so fast.
There's so much more to talk about- the writings or 'songs' of W.E.B. Du Bois prefacing each chapter, the ties of family, the beautiful prose that exists in this book- but I really just implore everyone to read it. I tried to take this book with one section at a time, especially because after some I felt like I really needed to sit and think about what I had just read. It's a big book, I won't shy away from that- but it's an incredibly worthwhile read. I'm grateful to Oprah and Obama for putting this on my radar. and I'm just very happy to have read it.
Recommendation:
Books About the Black Experience in America:
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid
"These are the incongruities of memory. It is hard to hold on to the entirety of something, but pieces may be held up to light."
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