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jordannchloee's review against another edition
4.0
what a funny little exploration. i think that ,when done well, a hateable protagonist is one of the worlds greatest joys. i hated joanna so deeply. and yet, i sort of loved this. i think it was dynamic, i think that the variance in people was gratifying, i think it was an adventure. it is certainly not without flaws, and it is a frustrating read. the ending is interesting and I'm not sure if i love it or if i hate it deeply. but the story over all shows a pocket of black life i haven't seen written about before and that was so very interesting to delve into. the minds of these people, their heads, was just so curious. the character development was deep. it really was a character driven story and these people felt real and palpable. i beautiful, strong, impactful 4.5 stars
teej7's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I loved this book, and I'm probably rating it higher than most would based on how this book made me feel alone. In perspective, this book was published in 1924, but it reads like a novel that was released closer to the end of the 20th century compared to at the start. I thought it was fascinating to read about a black middle class family during this weird time period. I didn't even mind the war subplot and really appreciated Peter's story line with Merriweather. This book made me think of my own family living during this time and what they could have went through. A very special book to me, full of beautiful prose-like writing from Fauset, I'll be reading more of her work. A gem!
shanthereader's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jola_g's review
3.0
‘TROUBLE ON TROUBLE, PAIN ON PAIN’
The series ‘books with interesting social context and acute observations but disappointing as far as their literary form is concerned’ continues, alas. There Is Confusion (1924) by Jessie Redmon Fauset falls into this category. Great social analysis but not a great novel.
I am very grateful to the author for the eye-opening and profound take on racism. I could see it from many angles, not so obvious included. Tennyson’s motto, There is confusion worse than death, Trouble on trouble, pain on pain, is a succinct summary of Jessie Redmon Fauset's book. After having read this novel I feel downhearted and furious at the same time. It is shocking to realize how many years this situation had lasted until people started to realize there was something wrong and appalling with it. I was perplexed to discover that the Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in American schools unconstitutional on May 17, 1954. Exactly thirty years after the publication of There Is Confusion!
Chicago, 1919.
Prejudices, unfairness, rejection – these are just a few enemies the characters have to constantly fight. Jessie Redmon Fauset shows how deeply racism influences their lives: Now as I look back, I think I realize for the first time what this awful business of color in America does to a man, what it has done for me. If we weren’t so persistently persecuted and harassed that we can think, breathe, do nothing but consider our great obsession, you and I might have been happy long ago.
The racism Joan, Peter and Maggie's families experience is common and multigenerational, not limited only to former slaves' owners. The white people portrayed in the book do not question racial segregation, it is something obvious and natural. The scene which shook me to the core was neither extremely dramatic nor high-note: during a university graduation ceremony, a white girl refuses to sit next to a Black student. As it seems, education is not an effective vaccine against hatred and prejudice.
There Is Confusion is also a love story. The model of relationship this novel is a pean to does not convince me though and I respectfully disagree with Jessie Redmon Fauset’s assumption that women’s task is to bring out the best in men. To be honest, I do not think it is a good idea to confuse love with a therapist-client relationship. And is it possible to respect a flip-flopper who changes according to the partner’s wishes? I think chameleons make adorable pets, not necessarily husbands. Joanna’s relationship with Peter, her constant desire to change him, feels toxic but I am aware that her obsessive ambition was a result of humiliations her family experienced because of the colour of their skin.
As for the literary quality of Jessie Redmon Fauset’s book, well, There Is Confusion indeed. The first part of the novel, depicting Joanna, Peter, Maggie and their friends as kids and teenagers, was engrossing, well-paced and compassionate. Paradoxically, it made me think of Elena Ferrante’s Napoli series, although the time and place were completely different. Then everything changes and the turning point for me was a scene that I will call ‘scalpel attack’ to avoid spoilers. It felt as if the novel’s wings were cut also. Gradually, the book stops being psychologically astute and soap opera vibes begin to dominate. Painfully stereotypical war scenes, obtrusive moralising and the artificial sweetness of the novel ending were deal breakers for me.
There Is Confusion is undoubtfully a valuable and moving testimony on being a person of colour in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Given Jessie Redmon Fauset’s talent, sharp eye and sensitivity, her cool and precise prose, it could have been much more.
Jessie Redmon Fauset
The series ‘books with interesting social context and acute observations but disappointing as far as their literary form is concerned’ continues, alas. There Is Confusion (1924) by Jessie Redmon Fauset falls into this category. Great social analysis but not a great novel.
I am very grateful to the author for the eye-opening and profound take on racism. I could see it from many angles, not so obvious included. Tennyson’s motto, There is confusion worse than death, Trouble on trouble, pain on pain, is a succinct summary of Jessie Redmon Fauset's book. After having read this novel I feel downhearted and furious at the same time. It is shocking to realize how many years this situation had lasted until people started to realize there was something wrong and appalling with it. I was perplexed to discover that the Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in American schools unconstitutional on May 17, 1954. Exactly thirty years after the publication of There Is Confusion!
Chicago, 1919.
Prejudices, unfairness, rejection – these are just a few enemies the characters have to constantly fight. Jessie Redmon Fauset shows how deeply racism influences their lives: Now as I look back, I think I realize for the first time what this awful business of color in America does to a man, what it has done for me. If we weren’t so persistently persecuted and harassed that we can think, breathe, do nothing but consider our great obsession, you and I might have been happy long ago.
The racism Joan, Peter and Maggie's families experience is common and multigenerational, not limited only to former slaves' owners. The white people portrayed in the book do not question racial segregation, it is something obvious and natural. The scene which shook me to the core was neither extremely dramatic nor high-note: during a university graduation ceremony, a white girl refuses to sit next to a Black student. As it seems, education is not an effective vaccine against hatred and prejudice.
There Is Confusion is also a love story. The model of relationship this novel is a pean to does not convince me though and I respectfully disagree with Jessie Redmon Fauset’s assumption that women’s task is to bring out the best in men. To be honest, I do not think it is a good idea to confuse love with a therapist-client relationship. And is it possible to respect a flip-flopper who changes according to the partner’s wishes? I think chameleons make adorable pets, not necessarily husbands. Joanna’s relationship with Peter, her constant desire to change him, feels toxic but I am aware that her obsessive ambition was a result of humiliations her family experienced because of the colour of their skin.
As for the literary quality of Jessie Redmon Fauset’s book, well, There Is Confusion indeed. The first part of the novel, depicting Joanna, Peter, Maggie and their friends as kids and teenagers, was engrossing, well-paced and compassionate. Paradoxically, it made me think of Elena Ferrante’s Napoli series, although the time and place were completely different. Then everything changes and the turning point for me was a scene that I will call ‘scalpel attack’ to avoid spoilers. It felt as if the novel’s wings were cut also. Gradually, the book stops being psychologically astute and soap opera vibes begin to dominate. Painfully stereotypical war scenes, obtrusive moralising and the artificial sweetness of the novel ending were deal breakers for me.
There Is Confusion is undoubtfully a valuable and moving testimony on being a person of colour in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Given Jessie Redmon Fauset’s talent, sharp eye and sensitivity, her cool and precise prose, it could have been much more.
Jessie Redmon Fauset
ecruikshank's review against another edition
4.0
“Oh, yes, we know you’ll do for us in every possible way, slight us, cheat us, betray us, but you can’t kill the real life within us, the essential us. You may make us distrustful, incredulous, disillusioned, but you can’t make us despair or corrode us with bitterness. Call us children if you like, but in spite of everything, life is worth living, and we mean to live it to the full.”
An excellent novel of manners that explores race, class, and gender through the lens of three young Black New Yorkers growing up and falling in and out of (and back in) love in the early 20th century. Joanna Marshall is an ambitious dancer and singer who knows herself to be destined for greatness; Peter Bye is a talented future surgeon who is driven in all things by his love for Joanna; and Maggie Ellersley is a beautiful striver committed to securing respectability. Their lives intersect in complicated and sometimes tragic ways as each grapples with the limitations imposed on them by a racist, sexist, colorist, and uncaring country. Despite taking place more than 100 years ago, so many of the conversations about class and race seemed like they could have been lifted from 2021. The characters were rich and complex, and they evolved and adapted in nuanced ways over the course of the novel; their miscommunications and poor decisions were so anxiety inducing that I occasionally had to put the book down, and I couldn’t help but love them and want the best for them all. There were times when the conversations felt a little didactic, when it seemed like Fauset was using her characters as a mouthpiece instead of using the plot and narrative to make her point. And I found myself disappointed by the surprisingly gendered resolution of one of the characters’ arcs. But I was delighted to discover this underappreciated gem thanks to the Novel Pairings podcast, and I hope more readers find There Is Confusion!
An excellent novel of manners that explores race, class, and gender through the lens of three young Black New Yorkers growing up and falling in and out of (and back in) love in the early 20th century. Joanna Marshall is an ambitious dancer and singer who knows herself to be destined for greatness; Peter Bye is a talented future surgeon who is driven in all things by his love for Joanna; and Maggie Ellersley is a beautiful striver committed to securing respectability. Their lives intersect in complicated and sometimes tragic ways as each grapples with the limitations imposed on them by a racist, sexist, colorist, and uncaring country. Despite taking place more than 100 years ago, so many of the conversations about class and race seemed like they could have been lifted from 2021. The characters were rich and complex, and they evolved and adapted in nuanced ways over the course of the novel; their miscommunications and poor decisions were so anxiety inducing that I occasionally had to put the book down, and I couldn’t help but love them and want the best for them all. There were times when the conversations felt a little didactic, when it seemed like Fauset was using her characters as a mouthpiece instead of using the plot and narrative to make her point. And I found myself disappointed by the surprisingly gendered resolution of one of the characters’ arcs. But I was delighted to discover this underappreciated gem thanks to the Novel Pairings podcast, and I hope more readers find There Is Confusion!
christineandbooks's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
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? Yes
4.0
siria's review against another edition
3.0
Jessie Redmon Fauset's first novel, There is Confusion, focuses on the experience of three Black children growing up in early twentieth-century New York: Joanna, the ambitious performer; Peter, the would-be surgeon with seemingly no real drive; and Maggie, the impoverished one who yearns for security and respectability. This is a far stronger book in its first half, when the main characters are still young and Redmon Fauset is writing a nicely observed novel of manners. About the midway point through, it shifts into a rather melodramatic mode and the characters become less people and more moralizing mouthpieces. Still, interesting for the glimpse it affords into the world of middle-class African Americans at the turn of the last century.
emily_murawsky's review against another edition
5.0
This forgotten classic deserves the hype that Pride and Prejudice got. The themes of ambition, race, love, and redemption make it an unforgettable story, and the resolution is one of my favorites. Highly recommend!
ameliaminamikoji's review
4.0
'She realised for the first time how completely colored Americans were mere on-lookers at the possibilities of life.'