Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

5 reviews

thecriticalreader's review

dark sad slow-paced

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

1.75

Context:

I chose Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward for my November 2023 Book of the Month pick. It is my second Jesmyn Ward book; I read Sing, Unburied, Sing a while back and loved it.

 

Review:

I had a lot of conflicting thoughts when reading Let Us Descend. Ward is an incredibly talented writer, and this book features many instances of her beautiful prose. I love the way she describes things—from the natural world to character descriptions, Let Us Descend is full of evocative word choices. On the other hand, the main character Annis and her central storyline felt flat to me. The story places a lot of emotional weight on Annis’s relationship with her mother and a fellow enslaved girl, but these relationships are hastily developed. Annis herself remains somewhat of a blank slate; I found the story’s side characters to be much more interesting.

 

In general, I liked the portions of the story in which Annis interacts with other people and disliked the portions that involved the spirit world. I’m not opposed to magical realism, but the fantasy elements in Let Us Descend really, really did not work for me. I cannot see what they contribute to Annis’s story or the thematic elements of the story as a whole. Naturally, the last part of the book, which follows Annis’s journey with the spirits, dragged for me. It felt like Ward used the last portion of the book as a personal emotional catharsis, and in the process lost sight of the story. 

 

The Run-Down: 

You might like Let Us Descend if . . . 

·      You want to read an empowering magical realism story about slavery that draws upon Dante’s Inferno

·      You appreciate beautiful sentences

 

You might not like Let Us Descend if . . . 

·      You disliked unexplained magical elements

·      You want a book with a well-written main character and a tightly constructed plot 

·      You don’t want to read descriptions that border on body horror

 

A Similar Book: 

Trinity by Zelda Lockhart. 

Similarities include:

·      Magical realism/Black Americans haunted by spirits

·      Lyrical writing

·      Thematic exploration of the power of maternal love and intergenerational strength

 

Key Differences include:

·      Trinity takes place in the twentieth century, Let Us Descend in the nineteenth

·      Trinity features three POVs, whereas Let Us Descend has one POV

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Death, Racism, and Vomit

Moderate: Incest, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

mariavdl's review

dark sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Slavery, Trafficking, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Pregnancy, Animal death, Vomit, Excrement, and Death of parent

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

this story was so poetically written, it was beautiful to read.
it wasn’t too long, the perfect time to tell the story as needed without dragging on.
annis’ story is just so tragic and you think it can’t get worse but it continues to do so.
although difficult this was a really important read; exploring a young woman’s perseverance through loss, grief and insurmountable odds, with magical realism interwoven through the pages to provide hope and guidance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Xenophobia, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Rape, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

sarahyjackson's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

5.0

A really sensorial, brutal book. There’s a line about rejecting witness as a balm during suffering and it really look me out. Poetic and important - made me consider belonging (to self to each other to god(s)). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Torture, Animal death, Grief, Slavery, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? No

4.25

Thanks to Scribner Books for the free copy of this book.

 - LET US DESCEND takes the framework of Dante's INFERNO and applies it to the story of a young enslaved girl. As you might expect, this book is dark and often horrific read, but in Ward's hands the story gives us both the beauty and the pain of Annis, the people she encounters, and the landscape she inhabits.
- This book is a study in the many forms grief can take, both on personal and community-wide levels, born both out of pain and love.
- Personally, I wished for a little more detail on the spirits Annis encountered, but that might just be the sci-fi/fantasy reader in me, I always want more there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Rape, Slavery, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Vomit, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts