Red at the Bone
Ratings39
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings39
Average rating3.9
THE TIMES '100 BEST SUMMER READS' NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2020 'Sublime' Candice Carty-Williams 'An epic in miniature' Tayari Jones 'A banger' Ta-Nehisi Coates 'Generous and big-hearted' Brit Bennett 'A true spell of a book' Ocean Vuong 'A proclamation' R.O. Kwon 'A little masterpiece' Paula Hawkins 'I adored this book' Elizabeth MacNeal 'Pure poetry' Observer 'A sharply focused gem' Sunday Times 'Will remind you why you love reading' Stylist 'Haunting' Guardian 'A wonderful, tragic, inspiring story' Metro 'Prose that sings off the page... Gorgeous' Mail on Sunday 'A nuanced portrait of shifting family relationships' Financial Times 'As seductive as a Prince bop' O, The Oprah Magazine 'Razor-sharp' Vanity Fair 'Dazzling... With urgent, vital insights into questions of class, gender, race, history, queerness and sex' New York Times An unexpected teenage pregnancy brings together two families from different social classes, and exposes the private hopes, disappointments and longings that can bind or divide us. From the New York Times-bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Another Brooklyn and Brown Girl Dreaming. Brooklyn, 2001. It is the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress - the very same dress that was sewn for a different wearer, Melody's mother, for a celebration that ultimately never took place. Unfurling the history of Melody's family - from the 1921 Tulsa race massacre to post 9/11 New York - Red at the Bone explores sexual desire, identity, class, and the life-altering facts of parenthood, as it looks at the ways in which young people must so often make fateful decisions about their lives before they have even begun to figure out who they are and what they want to be. *** ONE OF THE BOOKS OF THE YEAR FOR: New York Times; Washington Post; Time; USA Today; O, The Oprah Magazine; Elle; Good Housekeeping; Esquire; NPR; New York Public Library; Library Journal; Kirkus; BookRiot; She Reads; The Undefeated ***
Reviews with the most likes.
The shifts in time and narrator were a little jarring at first in the audiobook, but once settled in it's a gorgeous and moving ride. A contender for one of the best audiobooks of the year, for sure. These actors (including Jackie herself) absolutely make these characters live. A quick but sweeping 3 hours, strongly recommend.
I listened to the audio book. This wasn't really my taste in books. Perhaps if I had read the book instead of listening to the audio book, I would have enjoyed it more.
The prose was really lovely. The story wasn't super intense or anything but it was really nicely told.
A boy from a poor family. A girl from an affluent family. From the boy and girl is a baby. And this is the story, moving forward in time and backward in time, of those families, with their struggles and strengths.
I don't know if it was because this was a short book and there were many characters but I never felt vested in any of the people in the story. I wanted so much to love this book, but I just didn't (though I still love you, Jacqueline Woodson). Not everyone can hit it out of the park every time in every ball field.
