THE LOVE SONGS OF W. E. B. DU BOIS. Copyright © 2021 by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. - 802 Pages
“Epic…. I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family…. A combination of historical and modern story—I’ve never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me." —Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Book Club Pick
The novel focuses on several generations in an African-American family located in a fictional town in Georgia. The history of the Family begins in slavery times about 1840 or so up to 1995. The protagonist of the story is Ailey Pearl Garfield. Her father is a doctor and Ailey’s mother wants her to follow him. Aikey instead enrolls in a PhD program focusing on her families history. Her Family was enslaved by Samuel Pinchard, a rapist and a child molestor. We see how skin color is very important, with genetic mixtures of White, Creek, with enslaved persons to contemporary African Americans. The skin tone of every character is described. Ailey has a lingering relationship with a fellow college student with a white wife. We see in Ailey a deep need for male approval, she does seem to use sex like her sister Lydia used crack, as a means of escaping the roles history has imposed on Black women.
Throughout the novel there are “Love songs” focusing on Ailey’s distant ancestors, of African, Scottish, and Creek descent. Jeffers unflinchingly shows us the lingering psychological impact of slavery still effecting African American women in the 1990s. Ailey’s older sister Lydia becomes a crack addict, trading sex for drugs.
The novel has numerous quotations from the writings of W. E. B. Dubois. Two male characters debate about whether or not Dubois or Booker T. Washington is a better role model.
We see how attending a largely white college versus an historically black college are two very different experiences for Ailey. There are numerous descriptions of food, graphic sex throughout the novel, and marvelous dialogue. The college is said to be modeled on Howard University.
An African American highly distinguished professor, a graduate of Harvard, is accused by white police as having stolen the expensive car he owns.
Jeffers has written a beautiful book that is being proclaimed as an addition to classic literature by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and Richard Wright.
At 802 pages this is a long book for one published in this time. As I read on I came to see the length as reflective of the long history of African Americans.
The book has garnered numerous awards.
“INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
FINALIST FOR THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL • LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • A FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE • A NOMINEE FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD” -from the publisher
Her website THE LOVE SONGS OF W. E. B. DU BOIS. Copyright © 2021 by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. - 802 Pages
“Epic…. I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family…. A combination of historical and modern story—I’ve never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me." —Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Book Club Pick
The novel focuses on several generations in an African-American family located in a fictional town in central Georgia. The history of the Family begins in slavery times about 1840 or so up to 1995. The protagonist of the story is Ailey Pearl Garfield. Her father is a doctor and Ailey’s mother wants her to follow him. Aikey instead enrolls in a PhD program focusing on her families history. Her Family was enslaved by Samuel Pinchard, a rapist and a child molestor. We see how skin color is very important, with genetic mixtures of White, Creek, with enslaved persons to contemporary African Americans. The skin tone of every character is described. Ailey has a lingering relationship with a fellow college student with a white wife. We see in Ailey a deep need for male approval, she does seem to use sex like her sister Lydia used crack, as a means of escaping the roles history has imposed on Black women.
Throughout the novel there are “Love songs” focusing on Ailey’s distant ancestors, of African, Scottish, and Creek descent. Jeffers unflinchingly shows us the lingering psychological impact of slavery still effecting African American women in the 1990s. Ailey’s older sister Lydia becomes a crack addict, trading sex for drugs.
The novel has numerous quotations from the writings of W. E. B. Dubois. Two male characters debate about whether or not Dubois or Booker T. Washington is a better role model.
We see how attending a largely white college versus an historically black college are two very different experiences for Ailey. There are numerous descriptions of food, graphic sex throughout the novel, and marvelous dialogue. The college is said to be modeled on Howard University.
An African American highly distinguished professor, a graduate of Harvard, is accused by white police as having stolen the expensive car he owns.
Jeffers has written a beautiful book that is being proclaimed as an addition to classic literature by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and Richard Wright.
At 802 pages this is a long book for one published in this time. As I read on I came to see the length as reflective of the long history of African Americans.
The book has garnered numerous awards.
“INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
FINALIST FOR THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL • LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • A FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE • A NOMINEE FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD” -from the publisher
Her website honoreejeffers.com has a detailed bio. There are several video interviews with Jeffers on her website I found very illuminating.
Mel Ulm.
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