Reviews

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

belindad's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

3.75

maggiemccoy13's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

jyaremchuk's review

sad fast-paced

4.0

woolfy_vita's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-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

3.0

sarahbraves's review

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

rocomama's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

buntjuli's review

dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

lebishop13's review

adventurous dark sad tense 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

3.0

This felt really overwritten to me. I recognize that I'm likely not the target audience for this book and this story. Annis' journey and its parallels to navigating the circles of hells and the lush, imaginative descriptions of life, relationships, and nature was more than enough to tackle in this book. In that way, it achieved its goal of creating visceral descriptions of the horrors of slavery and the ways that the enslaved, stolen people still tried to be their own selves. The supernatural spirit element felt contrived and overdone. I would have liked to have that piece of the plot reduced to a minor subplot. I'll have to do some more reading and research into why the author took the story this direction, because I'm sure it has some strong significance to her that I'm just not connecting with.

katharim's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sarabellum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25