This was a wonderful multigenerational story emphasizing the way that history and community shape future generations. This novel is narrated by multiple characters and jumps throughout time in order to discuss the topics of identity, gentrification, education, class, and parenting (just to name a few). Woodsen does an impeccable job of writing beautifully while also discussing important topics. I would highly recommend this one to those who are looking for a quick, yet powerful read.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the gifted e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this with such high expectations, having heard nothing but rave reviews. The amount of nuance and characterisation that Woodson manages to fit into a novel that is under 200 pages is amazing. Each character is given their own back story and explores relationships, race and heritage in such different ways. I think the author made an interesting choice in not naming the character that was being followed in each chapter, instead allowing the reader to uncover their identity, usually within the first few paragraphs of the chapter.

However, there was something about this novel that felt lack lustre to me. I think this came from the choppy structure. Although I liked that we saw different characters’ perspectives, the way they were intertwined didn’t always make sense to me.

Overall I would still recommend this book and I would like to check out more by this author but I can’t deny that I was a little disappointed.

3 out of 5 stars!

Red at the Bone is an amuse-Boucher of a book, small, well-formed and quite possibly leaving you wanting more.

The novella follows a well-off Black American family, flitting between narrators as we learn of the effect that a teenage pregnancy and the Tulsa massacre has had on them. Woodson’s characters are a joy to read, and their reckoning with ancestral trauma is explored with sensitivity and grace.

I particularly enjoyed Woodson’s way with words: her writing is beautiful and manages to be poetic without ever becoming overwrought. I would have liked to spend more time with some of the characters, though a lot is packed in to the 196 pages.

I’d recommend this book widely, the writing is striking but accessible and the characters are sure to stay with readers for a long time.

Thank you to Goodreads and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Iris is 15, and has never doubted that she'll go to college. But then she finds out she's pregnant. The book is not just about the impact of this on her own life, but all the family members surrounding her.

The story jumps around through time and perspectives, which to me felt fairly fragmented, and I almost had to reorientate myself every chapter. Perhaps this reflects something of the disorientating nature of the events in the book, but it made reading it a more difficult experience (though how much of that was due to brain fog, I'm not sure!). If you like a linear narrative, or a good flow to your story, this is not for you. It's almost like an artsy play with fragmented scenes and seemingly random monologues.

I did appreciate the complex characters and the gorgeous prose. It explored every aspect of the family dynamic. Woodson is clearly a talented write, it was just the structure of the book that didn't work so well for me.

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.

With thanks to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review

Thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There are very few words in the English lexicon to sufficiently describe the profound beauty of this lyrical, hauntingly beautiful novel. 'Red to the Bone' is quite simply a siren song to lovers of literature everywhere. Essentially a tale of the human condition, vis-à-vis an interconnective narrative of the struggles and triumphs of the protagonists of one family over a number of years, the beauty of this novel seems to defy the prosaic format of a book review. Let me explain. There are facts the reader can grasp about this dynastic marvel of English literature - Iris' teenage pregnancy, for example, and Melody's 16th birthday, where she wear the dress her mother would have worn had she not been pregnant with her at the time. Then there are the transformative, universal themes of love, loss, sexuality, grief and identity, which are all present to be grasped by the eager reader's search for definition and meaning. I do not mean to dismiss facts - they are intrinsic to the book and authentic human experience - but anyone can write about facts and events, indeed, many have. Woodson, however, elevates storytelling to another level, in that one does not just read this book, one feels it.... profoundly. There is something poetic about her writing that is gently visceral. Combined with the intricate, gossamer-like thread of interconnectedness that forms a plot that almost takes on the quality of a stream of consciousness, this is a novel that is more than a tour de force, more of a once in a decade literary event.

Read it. You won't be disappointed.

Compelling, beautiful - almost beyond words.

Iris has a baby when she is 15 years old. The story tells the impact of that baby being born on Iris, her boyfriend, her parents and the baby itself, Melody.
It’s beautifully written book and I felt invested in all the characters. I can definitely see this book making the Women’s Prize long list in March.
A quick read which I would highly recommend
5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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.