The Travelers by Regina Porter is a story of two interconnected families sagas, one White and the other Black that spans from the 1950s to 2000’s.

A strong family saga is hard to come by and Porter almost nailed it but the multiply points of view made it difficult to get a sense of each character and their struggles.

Because how the novel is presented, It fell just a little short for me. Now, if this was more of a short story collection I think I would have a better sense of what was going on. Overall the was a a good read. I would love to see what Porter brings up next. Thank you NetGalley & Crown Publishing for gifting me this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I gave myself a bit of time after reading this to see how it settled. There's a lot here. When it began, it was all background written in a short story kind of way. After that it changed. And it kept changing. I never felt like I settled in to reading a story. I never had that sense of losing myself in it. It was disjointed. Maybe that was the point. Even with time, I'm feeling this was good and could have been great if I could have just connected with characters for a longer period of time.

Regina Porter tells this story with a creative approach that, in itself, makes this work notable. I was struck by both the form and content of this novel.

On the one hand, the book’s juxtaposition of dramatic form and prose drew me in. On the other, Porter’s use of honest portraiture and unexpected humor added delight.

The Travelers is, I hope, the first of many books I read by this author.

The Travelers is a sweeping, sprawling and engrossing debut novel about two American families, one black and one white and the events that connect them. The story follows it large cast of characters from the 1950’s through 2010, but in a non-linear narrative. The central event of the novel happens in 1966 to one of the novel’s main characters Agnes Christie, a young black woman from Georgia. One night, while out with her boyfriend, they are stopped by two policemen who pull Agnes from the car and rape her. From this incident all of the other characters and events seem to radiate and connect. The chapters are narrated by the various characters and each chapter feels like its own short story. We are transported from Georgia, to New York; from Vietnam to Germany and places beyond.

While the large cast of characters and the varied time line may be hard to follow at times, the beautiful crafted story and lyrical prose make the investment of concentration well worth it. Keeping everyone and their relationships to each other straight is a bit like going to your new boyfriend’s family reunion, but some of the characters will stay with you for days after and you will be happy you made the effort. I would highly recommend this debut novel to fans of historical fiction, family sagas, literary fiction and book clubs.

DNF at page 90. Very hard to get into and even harder to finish.The way that the narration was so jumpy was hard to follow.

Fantastic book. The overlapping stories tell an inclusive story without feeling stretched. Each character remains distinct even though we see different viewpoints. The pictures establish historical/social context and provide a complementary narrative. Terrific read!

This is such a special, special book. It’s one of those books that I want to carry next to my heart and cuddle, a constant reminder to just be. Be alive, be present, be Love. The Travelers by Regina Porter is a beautiful piece of literature, a work of art, a brilliant web of recent history. Written as a series of vignettes, each capturing a moment in time, a person, and a piece of history, the book weaves the lives of two extended families together.

There is no timeline in the book, the chapters hop back and forth over a period of 60 or so years (1950’s to 2010), and while Buckner County, Georgia is a somewhat central location, The Travelers takes us to LA, NYC, Vietnam, Berlin, among other places. Each chapter contains a new person a new location, a new story, and little by little we begin to see the bigger picture created by the lives of the characters, and how they are all tied together.

This book requires a certain amount of work from the reader, and cannot just be read with one eye open. There are many characters and storylines, and sometimes you have to stop for a minute and think about where this one or that one belongs. I loved this though, I felt like I was actually there, in each character’s life, learning more as I read, understanding more about the one who came before and the one who would come after. Readers shouldn’t be put off by the amount of characters, and by the fact that the story steps through time, because both elements make the book into something very special.

I also love how Regina Porter managed to get so many important themes and historical events in her novel without overwhelming the reader. There is the Jim Crow south, the Vietnam War, segregation and racism all over the US, Berlin in the Bowie years and after the wall comes down, the Bronx over the years, all types of relationships… I don’t want to add spoilers, so I won’t say anymore, but there are moments that will break your heart, and others that will teach you, events that will make you laugh, and others that will make you love harder.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book – it’s not going to leave my mind for a while.

An engaging read a book full of characters ,relationships a book that goes back and forth in time.A book that will make your head spin literary involving highly recommend,#netgalley#crownbooks

This book was written in an unusual style; going back and forth in years, settings, and characters. I really enjoyed it and felt for the characters though sometimes i had trouble keeping each person’s story straight.

This is a sprawling mosaic of a book with fascinating and engaging and conflicted and very real characters that spans generations and friendships and family and good days and bad days and dark times and better ones. Although the beginning of the book and its very clinical tone initially turned me off, I'm glad I kept reading. As the stories of the many characters got underway, the writing became more intimate and interesting.

The formatting with the very small sections and breaks made my version distracting and difficult to read. The ideas were there but the focus and care about the characters was lacking. A lot of characters were introduced without any desire to know more. I enjoyed the photographs, but they caused some formatting issues even when reading on my laptop.

REVIEW
Regina Porter's The Travelers is epic in scope - following two families over the course of about 60 years. It's a generational saga that uses vignettes to explore the lives of various family members of the Vincent and Christie clans. It's a book that explores war, sexism, and racism against the backdrop of two American families - one white, one black. It's a literary novel with a narrative format that veers into the Faulknerian. Narrators and timelines are ambiguous at times, making this a novel to be wrestled with versus easily consumed.

PRAISE
“In The Travelers, generations of two families - one black and one white - journey across time, race, geography and the wounds of history with sweeping breadth and disarming intimacy. Porter’s debut signals the arrival of a fully formed, singular talent. You’ve been wanting to read this book for a long time; it’s just that Porter hadn’t written it yet.”—Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Many thanks to NetGalley, Regina Porter, and Hogarth for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This novel has an interesting premise and interesting characters, but overall, is trying to do too many things all at once to be fully successful for me.