4.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting and Compelling Tale of Generational Legacy
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2020
Gifts, glories, and gospels of generational legacies spanning time, race, and more in THE REVISIONERS
It's interesting to me just how much our past is woven into our present, and that's exactly what is going on in Margaret Wilkerson Sexton's THE REVISIONERS (Counterpoint, 2019). Told in a trifurcated timeline from a first person POV--1924, 2017, and 1855--but focusing on one family and several strong women, this is a tale of generational legacies, healing, traditions, motherhood, prejudices, and a dash of magical realism.
Set in New Orleans 2017, Ava and her teenage son, King, are living with Ava's white, wealthy grandmother, Martha, serving as her companion/caretaker. Ava--a single mother and recently laid-off--is paid for her service to her grandmother and saving up so she and her son can leave and have a home of their own. But Martha's behavior soon becomes erratic, then threatening and Ava must leave before her story--and that of an ancestor she never knew--Josephine--collide.
Meanwhile, Josephine's tale is told in a two parts: 1855 when she was a young slave girl on the Wildwood Plantation, and also in 1924 as an older, freed woman living a simple life in a cozy home she keeps neat as a pin. Josephine is befriended by a white, lonely, younger woman, Charlotte, who is struggling with fertility. It's a reluctant friendship at first--can two women with different colored skin be friends? How about if that friendship spans generations? But Josephine is known as a sort of magical doula/midwife and perhaps she can help Charlotte become 'in the family way?' Still, Charlotte has demons of her own--and a backstory that might threaten her relationship with Josephine.
Back in 2017, Ava's black mother is a doula and her son is befriending white girls as his new, 'better' school...and then Ava's mother falls ill...
THE REVISIONERS explores the depths of women's friendships--marginalized, powerful women, healers, 'seers,' and survivors. It's about mothers and their strong connections to their children (male children, too), and the dangers that upend those bonds (religion, community, marriage, geographical distance), and more. It's about culture and race, and unjust circumstances; and ultimately, THE REVISIONERS ponders generational legacies, the endurance of hope, the promise of freedom--of thought, of action, of speech.
There were a few instances where I felt the thread of the narrative lost connection and felt a little scattered, leading to some confusion (at least for me). I did feel a great sense of empathy and desire to 'right the wrongs' of past injustices. A powerful read that was well-researched and realized.
I found some similarities in the setting and imagery of THE GATES OF EVANGELINE (Hester Young) with some touches of Alice Hoffman meets Toni Morrison.
L.Lindsay|Always with a Book
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