My Monticello

Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, “My Monticello,” tells of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing violent white supremacists. Led by Da’Naisha, a young Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, they seek refuge in Jefferson’s historic plantation home in a desperate attempt to outlive the long-foretold racial and environmental unravelling within the nation.

In “Control Negro,” hailed by Roxane Gay as “one hell of story,” a university professor devotes himself to the study of racism and the development of ACMs (average American Caucasian Males) by clinically observing his own son from birth in order to “painstakingly mark the route of this Black child too, one whom I could prove was so strikingly decent and true that America could not find fault in him unless we as a nation had projected it there.” Johnson’s characters all seek out home as a place and an internal state, whether in the form of a Nigerian widower who immigrated to a meager existence in the city of Alexandria, finding himself adrift; a young mixed-race woman who adopts a new tongue and name to escape the landscapes of rural Virginia and her family; or a single mother who seeks salvation through “Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse.”

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with Henry Holt.

Book club questions for My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Each story in My Monticello, along with the novella, takes place in the state of Virginia. How is Virginia a character in this book?

How does the author explore the theme of home? Who is permitted to fully claim America as ‘home’ and what are the costs of exclusion? What are the individual costs of separation for those excluded and for those included?

The characters in the stories and the novella are all facing great personal challenges within their internal and external worlds. The author approaches these stories using first, second third person and in varying forms—for example “Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse” takes shape in the form of a list. What impact does each narration choice and form have on the story and on you as a reader?

Most of the pieces in My Monticello are centered in some way on the relationships between parents and children--whether they be students struggling to get adults to see who they really are (“Something Sweet on Out Tongues”), or adult children trying to make sense of family legacies (“Virginia is Not Your Home” and “My Monticello”). What are some of the challenges in these relationships? Do you relate to any of the generational and/or familial strains highlighted by some of the characters?

Johnson makes references to recent events related to racial discrimination, violence and climate change. In the novella, she imparts a lot of historical information about Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson. What role does history play in the short stories and the novella? What can we learn from “the others who lived, dreamed and died” in this country?

The diverse cast of characters in “My Monticello” find their way to Jefferson’s plantation home in an attempt to survive the white mob that has forced them out of their own homes. On “this little mountain,” they make an attempt to create a society based on mutual care and respect, and in many of the short stories, like “The King of Xandria,” there is palpable love expressed in the struggle to survive and do what is right for loved ones. What do the stories and the novella have to say individually, and as a whole, about a path toward a future that honors all who dwell in America and the land itself?

My Monticello Book Club Questions PDF

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United by these characters’ relentless struggles against reality and fate, My Monticello is a formidable book that bears witness to this country’s legacies and announces the arrival of a wildly original new voice in American fiction.

“A badass debut by any measure―nimble, knowing, and electrifying.”

―Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Nickel Boys and Harlem Shuffle

“It is a rare breed of writer who can tell any kind of story and do so with exquisite deftness. Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is one such writer. Her debut collection, My Monticello, is comprised of six stories of astonishing range and each one explores what it means to live in a world that is at once home and not. She dissects the unbearable burdens of such displacement. The crowning glory of this collection is the title story, a novella about a world that has fallen apart and a small band of people who take refuge in Monticello, among the old ghosts of the former plantation, how they become family, and how they try to make a stand for their lives, for the world the way it once was. This collection is absolutely unforgettable and Johnson's prose soars to remarkable heights.”

―Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Hunger and Ayiti

“I was enthralled from the opening lines of this book. These chilling, thought-provoking and expertly crafted stories showcase Johnson’s range and ability―they broke my heart as well as my brain. A stunning collection.”

―Charles Yu, National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown

“My Monticello is a magnificent debut that holds so much in its gaze―great love and great oppression, tremendous individual courage and systemic racism, futures of joyful justice and futures of extremism. This breathtaking, artful book is a gift.”

―Megha Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning

“With Virginia as the heart, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson brings to life a body of stories sustained by a cast of characters so unique, sincere, and determined that you will not only root for them, but see your own humanity reflected back. A collection where hope serves as the connective tissue, My Monticello reaffirms our deepest desires for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness while examining the soil of our nation and the fruit it bears.”

―Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck