Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Red at the Bone: A Novel

Reviewed in Canada on March 21, 2020

Although short, this book is filled with emotion. It's so well written and leaves you invested in every single character. Jacqueline keeps the narrative tight but expressive so you fully understand and empathize with the situation.

Put this on your reading list.

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JM

Ok

Reviewed in Canada on October 24, 2019

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Note that this is large print. I didn’t notice when I ordered 😂

Didn’t follow the story that well. But I read it in sections weeks apart.

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Carole Chamberland

Would not recommend, lacking substance

Reviewed in Canada on March 11, 2021

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Not great, choppy, without meaning

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Laurie ‘The Baking Bookworm’

Interesting issues & premise but the plot & characters failed to connect with me.

Reviewed in Canada on December 1, 2019

2.5 STARS - I have, of course, heard of Jacqueline Woodson but for some reason, hadn't yet read any of her work. After reading the blurb of this book and how it focuses on several big and pertinent issues (race, unwanted pregnancy, class, parenting, love …), I quickly got my hands on a copy. I also liked that this was a short book with short chapters. All in all, it seemed to be a great pick for me but sadly, and a little surprisingly, this book and I didn't connect.

It's a short book but it felt like a short story (not my favorite genre) and while there are some interesting characters and issues raised, they weren't given enough depth to be satisfying. Different narrators take up the story in each chapter, but readers are left to figure out who is speaking, which was confusing, frustrating and a little exhausting. The story itself is quite slow and while some readers have labelled this book as 'too depressing', I found that it didn't evoke much emotion in me, nor did I connect with the characters. Not a great feeling after looking forward to this book.

I'm glad I read this book because I now know Woodson's lyrical style of writing (which will help when I advise my library customers who enjoy that style), but I'm going to chalk this one up as 'it just wasn't for me'. This book has received rave reviews from others so take my review with a grain of salt - literary, lyrically written books just aren't my thing.

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Stellar Fiction

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2020

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Jacqueline Woodson's writes a profoundly lyrical inter-generational black family drama, its history, of race, class, the trials and tribulations of being alive, of identity, sexuality, love, loss, grief and ambition. It begins with the coming of age of Melody, her 16th birthday, wearing a dress that her mother, Iris, never got to wear, at the tender age of 15, Iris was pregnant with Melody. Woodson uses this family event to weave a moving web of family history and interconnections in a narrative that deftly illustrates how the past is writ large in the present, continuing to shape the future. The repercussions of a teen pregnancy, an Iris for whom motherhood is not enough and abandons Melody to be lovingly brought up by her steadfast, contented and committed father, Aubrey, and her grandparents Sabe and Sammy. It takes in the impact of the 1921 Tulsa race massacres, driving the family to relocate and triggering its focus on ambition.

Woodson's stellar novel imprints itself indelibly on my memory with its insightful and acute observations that go into highlighting the complexities and complications of family. She has a real gift in characterisation with so few words, bringing a humanity and authenticity to the people who inhabit the book. This may well be a short novel, but it is epic in scale, containing such beautiful imagery, with an underlying sense of universality when it comes to family, of what it takes to survive and endure, the importance of remembering, the tragedies, the heartbreak and the joy and hope too. A poignantly stitched together multilayered reconstruction of a specific family and its past amidst which lies the history of a nation. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

5 people found this helpful

Ninaminacat

Satisfyingly complex but didn't engage me on a personal level

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2021

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Attempting to review this complex non-linear narrative, told from a variety of viewpoints, a few weeks after completing it, makes me aware that it is a book which might benefit from a second reading. It touches on so many themes - love, loss, race, class, teenage pregnancy, familial and intergenerational relations and differences in expectations.

As the story opens dramatically and poetically with 16 year old Melody's coming of age ceremony, it is easy to imagine that the book will tell the story of this character on the cusp of womanhood, but it is actually a clever way to introduce the true protagonists, her parents and grandparents, and to start revealing the interrelations between the three generations of the family. As the story unfolds a bit from each viewpoint at a time, it becomes clear this ceremony, so important in a young girl's life, can only be symbolic of the transition, and that true power of her sexuality is hers alone, to explore as - and when - she chooses; however, she should be aware that with power comes danger and that she should be careful how she uses that power since it may have far reaching consequences, as 15 year-old Iris finds out when she becomes pregnant with Melody.

The story has a circular structure. Its start with Melody's ceremony (which unlike her mother's, does actually take place) and her appearance in the dress which her mother never wore helps to draw a contrast between the two characters and the choices open to them and their respective partners as they reach the age formally designated as the beginning of womanhood. It also highlights the difference in their relationships with their parents, particularly their mothers. Gradually, via a variety of different viewpoints, the pieces of the family history come together and we return to Melody's ceremony and a hint at what the future holds for her.

I suspect it comes over from my review that I didn't become deeply involved with the characters. I connected more with Aubrey than anyone else. I really felt his pain that Iris would not have remained with him had he not been Melody's father. I also felt Iris' regret at the end that she hadn't appreciated her husband more. Maybe revisiting this at some point in the future would give me the sense of involvement I missed upon a first reading.

Anika May

Raw. Honest. Heart-breaking. A must-read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2020

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Jacqueline Woodson and her magnificent ability to convey so much heart in just 196 pages is a read I’ll never forget.

Red at the Bone dives into this family’s mosaic history, from 1921 to 2001. The book begins at Melody's coming of age ceremony. She’s 16 years old, surrounded by friends and family, and making her way into the world. The ceremony is a treasured part of her family’s history, taking place in the home of her middle-class grandparents. But Melody's mother, never reached her imperative celebration. And the reason why has affected three generations of family members.

Jacqueline Woodson’s writing is remarkably powerful. In my opinion, there’s no other way to interpret it. Her words carry weight and emotion but are formatted in short and smooth sentences. Despite its length, the novel doesn’t feel like a quick read. It has a balanced depth as the reader comes to understand the history, mindset, and make-up of Melody’s family. We get to see her grandparents’ journey, her parents’ journey, and the beginning of hers through a variety of African-American perspectives.

Red at the Bone highlights the outlooks of race, class, love, parenthood, desire, and freedom. It’s impossible not to be swept up by the poetic plot. The chapters read like an emotional song, with its compelling highs and crushing lows. It has both joy and mourning, success and misery. Each verse has its own level of passion and intensity, which changes and reshapes as the family does. Every character has their own battle, whether it appears as they grow into adulthood or later in life. And as the story moves back and forth in time, the reader discovers what events shaped its narrators.

The novel teaches us how impactful our decisions can be. It may be short in length but is rich in wisdom. And it comes through experiences of the characters, as well as their relationships with others. For example, Sabe’s memory of the Tulsa race massacre, Aubrey’s fierce love for Iris, and Iris’ longing for education and liberty. Every ordeals trickle down to Melody’s perspective in 2001. It’s a vibrant tapestry that can be explored over, and over, and over.

Everything about Red at the Bone is impeccable. The spotless prose, the authentic characters, and the diversified presentation of each of its themes. It never feels overcrowded, sluggish, or insignificant.

Anika | chaptersofmay.com

One person found this helpful

Sammii-Louu

Beautifully Raw

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2020

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RED AT THE BONE begins in 2001, as 16-year-old Melody enters her coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' Brooklyn brownstone, wearing a white dress made to measure for someone else. The story moves back and forward in time, tracing the history of her parents & grandparents, showing how the threads of family pull towards the present.

My favourite moments were the two-handers: the private moments shared between two characters & the perspective through which Jacqueline Woodson chooses to convey the intimacies of these personal experiences. The tenderness of a first sexual experience described from the male perspective; a nursing mother's experience of arousal; a Black mother's experience of childbirth and encounters with medical professionals; Black queer sexual awakening; the earliest childhood experiences (the layering of memory here almost reminded me of Sister Night's nostalgia trip and hearing her grandmother's voice echo through her memories of William - Watchmen HBO ep 6); the significance of that white dress. In this novel, pleasure and pain are tightly wound together; Woodson poignantly captures the ecstasy of being.

Like a lot of the books I've read recently, this sparked my interest in what we pass down through the family line and what is inherited - be it mannerism, temperament, belief - how trauma is engraved in our ancestry and woven through the generations. Sabe and Tulsa will be on my mind for a while.

There were a few moments when I wanted a little more from the narrative, but stories like this are making me hungry to read.

One person found this helpful

Judith Jesp

Not all life shattering experiences are negative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 19, 2020

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Iris has been brought up in New York in a happy black family that still bears the scars of the 1921 Tulsa massacre. By the age of 15 she’s sexually active so the pregnancy that prevents her from having her coming of age ball shouldn’t have been such a shock to her but she’s surprisingly ignorant about birth control. She decides to keep daughter Melody and her parents immediately move to a new neighbourhood where nobody knows them. Melody is brought up by her adoring grandparents and father in this new house after Iris runs away to college and never really returns. Fast forward 16 years and the 5 of them are together for Melody’s coming of age ball where Melody is wearing the dress Iris should have worn. The story of those years from 1921 onwards is lyrically told in very short chapters by each of the character in turn. Much of the story is left to the reader to pick up by using their imagination but I enjoyed this nuanced approach. As you would expect from a YA author Woodson sensitively handles the scenes between the young characters but I also enjoyed reading Iris’s parents stories.

One person found this helpful

Claire Estelle

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2021

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Another absorbing story from Jacqueline Woodson, read in one sitting as couldn't put it down. The story starts with Melody's 21st birthday party and then moves round the family to explore each character and give some of their history. Each person is brought to live, in a way that also acts as a way to tell Black history from how Brooklyn has changed, to people being turned out of their home and business in Oklahoma. Some major plot points are left hanging and not explored further, whilst it's the inner worlds of her characters that are so evocative, Woodson excels at getting inside people's hearts and minds and letting you understand how people can be affected by life.

5 star		55%
4 star		25%
3 star		14%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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