Puzzling.
I enjoyed this book at the start. found it involving as it described the life of slaves on the plantation. Annis is the daughter of the master of the house, her Mother teaches her to fight so she can protect herself. Annis confides in her Mother about the way her Father looks at her, her Mother is sold of, leaving Annis to fend for herself, She is befriended by Safi and the two become lovers. Her Father sees the two of them together and sells them to a man who transports them along with others on a horrific journey, Annis barely survives but is visited by a spirit who advises her. This part of the story was confusing as the spirit changed and I was not sure what its purpose was.
Thank you Jesmyn and NetGalley.

What an incredible, moving, generous and beautiful novel this is, full of hope, redemption, anger and love. It is surely going to be read for years to come.

This was a phenomenal, heart wrenching read that I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read early. The length of the novel was perfect and I'm going to be thinking about ancestral ghosts for a very long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I've always been a fan of the magical realism genre and Jesamyn Ward is definitely staking her claim here after this novel, with its heartbreaking and yet life-affirming narrative. Ward weaves her narrative in and out of the brutal realism of slavery in the South and the mythology of spiritualism through the story of Annis and her family. The support of her family's goddess can help her, but ultimately Annis must save herself. A worthy addition to the canon.

jesmyn Ward is a wordsmith, no doubt. this is a harrowing read but one that is written with such immediacy, urgency and lucidity that one can't look away. i did find her prose too laboured at times, a lot of descriptions and so on, although striking on a sentence-level, felt overdone, distracting almost.

I’ve read two of Jesmyn Ward’s contemporary novels and enjoyed both the magical realism of her lyrical prose and the glimpses into other, very different, lives that her works give us. This book takes us back in time to the Southern states of America in the years before the Civil War, where we follow the life of an enslaved woman, Annis. Annis is the granddaughter of a proud warrior woman, whom she knows only through the stories her mother tells her as they practice fighting in the way of their ancestors. Her father is the white enslaver on whose property Annis was born and where she labours, as our story opens.

Annis dreams of other worlds: those in the stories of her grandmother and those in the classical literature read by her white half-sisters and their tutor, including Dante’s Inferno, from which the novel’s title is taken. As Annis reaches adulthood, she is separated from first her mother, then from their home, and eventually from the woman she has fallen in love with, during a harrowing journey to New Orleans and a new enslaver.

On the long walk, Annis encounters a spirit that takes her grandmother’s name, and she is able to take strength from the images the spirit shares with her. Her new enslaver is no less cruel than the previous one, though in different ways, and Annis has to endure starvation and disease before she finally finds a way out, along with a potential new, free life.

I loved this book, difficult as it was at times to read about the hardships and dangers that Annis endures. It all gave an excellent insight into parts of history that need to be taught more in schools and also in the wider media.

This story was so poetically written, it was beautiful to read.
It wasn’t too long, the perfect time to tell the story as needed without dragging on.
Annis’ story is just so tragic and you think it can’t get worse but it continues to do so.
Although difficult this was a really important read; exploring a young woman’s perseverance through loss, grief and insurmountable odds, with magical realism interwoven through the pages to provide hope and guidance.

Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward is one of my all time favourite books and I am, in fact, yet to read anything written by Ward that isn’t stunning. Her writing is lyrical and transcendent, yet never compromises on raw, brutal power. Let Us Descend is the story of Annis, as she is sold south by the white slaveowner who fathered her and the traumatic and harrowing journey through the South and beyond. The novel is infused with a magical realism aspect that is connected to both the spirit world and to Annis’s mother and grandmother. The strange thing about Let Us Descend is that there are a few moments where I wasn’t 100% sure exactly what was going on because of the spiritual elements and yet it doesn’t matter in the slightest. The writing is so powerful that the feeling and emotion comes through with a razor sharp accuracy and it is impossible not to be drawn in completely to the fluidity of the story. It is a harsh and grim world that Ward describes, as is historically accurate, and whilst there are parts which are difficult to read, Let Us Descend somehow manages to not feel like a depressing or hopeless read. It is a book about survival, devotion and strength of will which I couldn’t recommend more highly.

Annis is the daughter of a proud slave woman and her master. Her mother teaches her about her warrior heritage and about the spirits that guide her. However when Annis and her mother are separated she has no guide. Finally her master/father send Annis down to the slave markets of New Orleans and Annis is sold to a sugar plantation. Here she learns to listen to her ancestors and to free herself.
This is a book which comes with many rave reviews and I am always a little skeptical however the hype is mainly justified. This is the story of slavery from a single perspective and the plot is excellent. What makes it more is the careful handling for the spiritual element which could be completely overblown and cliched but Ward is sensible enough to use it to drive the narrative without it taking over.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and the author Jesmyn Ward.
While I can appreciate the beautiful and lyrical writing, it just didn't grab me and it was a struggle to persevere with. The book touches on extremely important topics around slavery, independence and ownership with a heavy dose of magical realism but the subject wasn't strong enough to hold my attention well and just wasn't for me unfortunately.

A brutal story about a teenage slave, and her harrowing, terrifying life, and the ancestral spirits that guide her...

Let us descend is a book of heartbreak and hope, fragility and strength and an act of remembrance.
Following the forced sale from her mother in Carolina, Annis embarks on a gruelling slave drive to the depths of the South in New Orleans and the harsh sugar plantations.

Exploring themes of African spirituality, Annis finds strength from her ancestors and the skills of survival provided by her mother. Annis lack of autonomy is no match for the the durability of the human spirit.

Jesmyn Ward's beautiful narrative deserves to be read and will definitely be remembered and recounted.

This is historical fiction about the trauma and bondage of American slavery, written with very lyrical prose and interwoven with magical realism. The style of this novel didn't work for me. I became tired of wading through the poetic language and found the cyclical nature of the narrative became a little tedious. The magical realism was an interesting device to express the inner world of our protagonist, but again I just couldn't engage with it. Not an enjoyable read for me.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
Publication date: 24 October 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
~~~~~
Annis is sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. 
~~~~~
Jesmyn Ward is an author who has been on my radar for a while and yet, this is the first book of hers I've ever read, and it will not be the last.
By the nature of its topic, Let Us Descend is a harrowing story to read but it is beautiful; Ward's writing is captivating, lyrical and very vivid.
There is a very strong aspect of magical realism in this book, which I loved. Annis meets spirits and ancestors during her journey; whether friend or foe, they are also the witnesses of the generational trauma of slavery and important guides to this young woman, who has lost her one safe haven.
This is a story of familial love, of the strong bond between mothers and daughters, of despair and resilience, of wretched suffering and of strength, and Annis is a remarkable main character.
Even though it is a gripping story, I found myself reading it quite slowly as it was a book that demanded my attention (and it deserved it.) I immediately ordered myself a finished copy upon finishing it and it will, without a doubt, end up on my favourite books of the year list.
~~~~~

Jesmyn Ward's Let us Descend is a short, brutal, beautiful book which tells the story of one woman, Annis, as she journeys through the antebellum Deep South, enduring ferocious suffering while she searches for her mother and yearns for freedom, whatever that might look like.

Ward spares no detail in her unflinching portrayal of how Annis and her fellow enslaved people are treated as subhuman chattel: they are forced to walk for weeks with barely any food or water; the women are compelled to submit their bodies according to the whims of their enslavers, whom have no more care for the bonds of family than if their hands were animals. If this were a horror novel, it would be a deeply uncomfortable read; as a work of historical fiction, it is almost unbearable. As the title suggests, early on Ward establishes an analogy between Dante's Inferno and Annis' journey from the plantation where she was born to the slave markets of New Orleans and beyond, and this in no way feels hyperbolic. 

The visceral, lyrical prose forces the reader to stand with Annis and experience the world as she does, feeling the lash of hateful, humiliating words and the degrading, dehumanising way she is treated by the thieves who enslaved her and her ancestors.

Throughout her tribulations, Annis is buoyed by the spirits of her ancestral homeland, which provide solace, direction and inspiration when she is at her lowest ebb. Ward masterfully embues these spirits with human characteristics, which creates a fascinating dynamic, and the magical realism of these passages offers a reprieve from the unrelenting cruelty of the narrative (though it should be noted that, for many enslaved people, these belief systems and spirits were entirely real). It is easy to understand why someone in Annis' situation would turn to a higher power; she feels utterly powerless, dependent on those she loathes for her very survival, and the thought of something from 'home' that is more powerful than the thieves who stole and enslaved her ancestors and continue to subjugate her would be very appealing. 

Another theme of the novel which really resonated with me is female strength, and the myriad forms it can take. The novel opens with Annis' mother teaching her how to fight with a spear, passing on knowledge that her own mother (a warrior queen until she was stolen from her West African homeland) taught her, in the hope that it may keep Annis safe. However, just as important in protecting and sustaining her daughter are the stories Annis' mother tells her, which distract and comfort her, as well as strengthening her connection to Mama Aza and to the possibility of a different way of life. From the fierce strength of her warrior grandmother to the quiet resistance of her mother, and the determined stoicism of the women she encounters on her journey, Annis relies on the might of these women and vows that she will not let her captors break her. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

This one is a tough but important read. Annis is born into slavery, with this story following her life as a young woman. The book has a highly spiritual aspect that I was not expecting, and at times I struggled to see what this was trying to portray.

This is primarily a book of self discovery, with Annis learning more about herself during a time where she is treated appallingly by others. The imagery is incredible strong in this book, supported by the fantasy/mystical elements included.

I don’t think I could say that I enjoyed this read, yet I am glad that I read it.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Let Us Descend
by Jesmyn Ward

This new to me author has a very strong, lyrical, exacting style. Her imagery is powerful, it conjures mysticism and her writing has an oral history vibe.

Although the content in this story is brutal and horrific, I felt unmoved, and I don't know why. From Roots to Uncle Tom's Cabin, 12 Years a Slave to The Water Dancer and The Underground Railroad, the stories of slavery never fail to viscerally effect me.

Maybe I have read too much in this genre? Actually I suspect that it's the very thing that sets this story apart from the others that will appeal to many, but just is not my cup of tea, namely the fantasy element. It turns a historically authentic story into make believe, gives it an Avengers fantastical aura and while that will be devoured by many, for me it reduces it's humanity.

Apart from that, I love that this has a female protagonist, and I love the message of taking ownership of oneself. This will appeal to a huge audience, especially young and female.

Publication date: 24th October 2024
Thank you to #netgalley and #bloomsburyuk for the eGalley

#bookreview #irishbookstagram #letusdescend
#jesmynward

Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take.

This is a tough story to read. Not because it’s poorly written, quite the opposite, but because of the suffering endured by the slaves at the hands of their masters. I didn’t care for the introduction of spirits, feel that it added nothing to the story. Putting that aside, I think this is a wonderfully written piece of fictional history.

I came to this book with very high expectations. American author Jesmyn Ward’s “Sing, Unburied, Sing” (2017) I rated five stars and it ended up in my Top 10 Of The Year when I caught up with it in 2021. Louise Kennedy, whose debut “Trespasses” (2022) is one of my favourite novels I’ve read in 2023 has described it as “The best book I’ve read in years”. The edition I got directly from the publishers begins with a message from Alexis Kirschbaum at Bloomsbury who makes great claims for it. “It is a text that feels almost sacred. The artistry is unparalleled. You will not read another book like this one.” I couldn’t wait to begin.
We’re taken back in time to the days of slavery. I only very recently read Yvonne Battle-Felton’s “Remembered" (2019) so comparisons for me are going to be inevitable and there is already an extraordinary book in this setting, “The Prophets” by Robert Jones Jnr (2021) who said so much of what is to say. This is a first-person narrative which begins with mother and daughter escaping their cabin at night to practise sparring with two buried sticks. Teaching her how to fight, Annis’ mother believes, may keep her alive.
The passing on of knowledge through the generations plays a vital part in this novel. Annis’ grandmother Aza is remembered only through her mother’s stories. A warrior woman, passed on by her family who becomes part of an army of women who protected a King, she is sold into slavery when she falls in love and is a broken woman by the time she reaches the plantation having taught her daughter all of her survival skills.
It's powerful stuff and these stories demand to be told. The human exploitation by slave owners, their belief in the right to abuse, hound or sell on never fails to provoke responses of disgust and here all this is handled magnificently.
For many in this situation a belief in God is often depicted as a survival strategy, the hope for salvation and something better in the after-life. God is not really present here, the beliefs are in powers more elemental and spiritual. Is Annis guided by the spirits or are the echoes she feels the ghosts of her ancestors or her own intuition as a girl educated to survive?
Increasingly, the elemental dominates. The spirits of wind and water do give a sense of the novel as “sacred text” but, and this is a personal thing, it is not something I strongly respond to. The novel never loses its way- it is strong throughout but it doesn’t end up for me having the same power as “Sing, Unburied, Sing”.
It is a novel saturated in grief and I was saddened to discover that the author lost her husband who was just aged 33 in 2020. The sensitivity and introspection of this novel is no doubt influenced by that.
It’s a very strong book with sections I will probably remember forever. And there may come a time in my life when this elemental spirituality will make more sense for me and when it does I know I’ll find it within this work and will seek it out again. I do respect that this will become an important book for many people.
Let Us Descend is published by Bloomsbury in the UK on 24th October 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I thank NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an ARC copy of this novel, which I freely chose to review.
I read Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, admired it enormously, and knew I had to check her most recent book as well. There are many similar aspects between the two (so, anybody who enjoyed the previous one, should rush to get this one), but also some differences.
Here, the action takes place in slavery times, and we see (and hear, taste, smell, and feel) things from the point of view of a single, but very special character, Annis (or Arese, her mother’s name for her), a young girl, a house slave whose mother is the repository of the training and the stories passed on from mother to daughter, and who is eager to train her daughter and make sure she remembers the stories of the women of the family, knows how to defend herself, avoid danger, never give up, and always love herself.
The women in her family also have a special gift (at times a curse), they can see, talk, and feel spirits. She is always aware of some presence around them, but it only manifests itself once her mother is sold and she tries to reconnect with her family tradition. She lives through heartache, abuse, torture (physical and mental), and she is accompanied by Aza, who at first presents as her grandmother and manifests as a force of nature, sometimes aiding and sometimes hindering Annis’s efforts to not only survive but to become her own woman and live life her own way. Annis moves in time and space (she is sold in New Orleans where although she is a slave, she refuses to accept the label they try to impose on her), and we follow her in her journey, both, utterly realistic and also suffused by magic, otherworldly forces, and spirits that live all around her and try to drag her into their realms and make her worship them. But Annis, whose voice and thoughts we read, in first-person, has her own ideas.
This novel made me think of Beloved, and it is as beautifully written as Toni Morrison’s novel, but the style of writing is quite different. There are also references to Dante’s Divine Comedy, and those go beyond the title. The descriptions are poetical even when the experiences or events described might be horrific, and some scenes are truly unforgettable (her punishments in ‘the hole’, for example). Readers who prefer a totally realistic writing style that keeps moving the plot along, might not appreciate her writing. On the other hand, those fond of magical realism, stream of consciousness, and somewhat abstract and impressionistic writing, should check this one.
As I have mentioned, Annis suffers abuse and lives in terrible conditions, and she isn’t the only one in the novel, so readers need to be cautious if they think the content might be upsetting for them.
I particularly enjoyed the immersive writing style, whereby the language becomes a web wrapping around you or a stream of water you’re submerged in, and also the precious nature of the relationship of the protagonist with other women, slaves like her, in particular with her mother and Safi, her first companion, and lover.
This is another beautiful, moving, hard, and ultimately empowering novel, which I recommend to readers who love precious and descriptive writing and are happy to accept that there are more things in heaven and earth than we might know about.