Let Us Descend (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel (Oprah's Book Club 2023)
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Instant New York Times Bestseller • Named one of the best books of 2023 by The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, Time, The New Yorker, and more.
“Nothing short of epic, magical, and intensely moving.” —Vogue • “A novel of triumph.” —The Washington Post • “Harrowing, immersive, and other-worldly.” —People
From “one of America’s finest living writers” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “heir apparent to Toni Morrison” (LitHub)—comes a haunting masterpiece about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War that’s destined to become a classic.
Let Us Descend describes a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. A journey that is as beautifully rendered as it is heart wrenching, the novel is “[t]he literary equivalent of an open wound from which poetry pours” (NPR).
Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Annis leads readers through the descent, hers is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.
From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this “[s]earing and lyrical…raw, transcendent, and ultimately hopeful” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet.
“Nothing short of epic, magical, and intensely moving.” —Vogue • “A novel of triumph.” —The Washington Post • “Harrowing, immersive, and other-worldly.” —People
From “one of America’s finest living writers” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “heir apparent to Toni Morrison” (LitHub)—comes a haunting masterpiece about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War that’s destined to become a classic.
Let Us Descend describes a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. A journey that is as beautifully rendered as it is heart wrenching, the novel is “[t]he literary equivalent of an open wound from which poetry pours” (NPR).
Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Annis leads readers through the descent, hers is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.
From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this “[s]earing and lyrical…raw, transcendent, and ultimately hopeful” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet.
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Community Reviews
My standards for a Jessmyn Ward book are so high, I think she’s just such a fantastically talented writer. This book sadly did not meet those expectations. It’s still a well-written, interesting book but it didn’t blow me away.
thenextgoodbook.com
What’s it about?
Annis is a slave in the antebellum South. She spends her first thirteen years or so living with her mother. She is inconsolable when her mother is sold further down South. Annis soon finds herself making the same journey to the slave market that her mother made. This novel mixes magical realism with the abomination of slavery.
What did it make me think about?
It is horrifying what people are capable of doing to each other.
Should I read it?
I am a huge Jasmyn Ward fan. Her writing is absolutely lyrical. Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones are two novels that I greatly admire and really enjoyed. Let us Descend will be added to the list of novels I admire- but I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous two. What Annis had to endure is hard to read about- but that was not the problem for me. The writing is just as beautiful, but the mixture of magical realism with the rest of this story just did not seem cohesive to me. It tended to take me out of the story. I still have nothing but admiration for Jesmyn Ward- and if you enjoy beautiful writing then pick this one up.
Quote-
” ‘This place horrified her,’ Mama whispers. ‘When I got older, I thought I knew. Thought I understood how wrong this place was, but I didn’t.’ Mama squeezes my middle. ‘I didn’t understand how wrong until you came squalling out of me.’ “
What’s it about?
Annis is a slave in the antebellum South. She spends her first thirteen years or so living with her mother. She is inconsolable when her mother is sold further down South. Annis soon finds herself making the same journey to the slave market that her mother made. This novel mixes magical realism with the abomination of slavery.
What did it make me think about?
It is horrifying what people are capable of doing to each other.
Should I read it?
I am a huge Jasmyn Ward fan. Her writing is absolutely lyrical. Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones are two novels that I greatly admire and really enjoyed. Let us Descend will be added to the list of novels I admire- but I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous two. What Annis had to endure is hard to read about- but that was not the problem for me. The writing is just as beautiful, but the mixture of magical realism with the rest of this story just did not seem cohesive to me. It tended to take me out of the story. I still have nothing but admiration for Jesmyn Ward- and if you enjoy beautiful writing then pick this one up.
Quote-
” ‘This place horrified her,’ Mama whispers. ‘When I got older, I thought I knew. Thought I understood how wrong this place was, but I didn’t.’ Mama squeezes my middle. ‘I didn’t understand how wrong until you came squalling out of me.’ “
3 out of 5⭐️
This was a tough one to get through as the nature of the story isn’t a pleasant one. The descriptive writing in this story is beautiful and reminds me of reading poetry. I also love the depth to which the author makes the reader experience her writing. The flow of the story through the magical spiritual realm back to reality was challenging to remain focus. The beginning is also slow.
The writing style is beautiful. The details of the settings and characters were great but the pace of the story was slow.
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