My Monticello is comprised of several short stories and a novella all focusing on race in this country. While works of fiction, the experiences of the characters are rooted in reality. Each story was unique in its plot but the central theme of what it is like to be Black in the United States, was consistent throughout. The novella, which shares the same title as the book, was what really hooked me. When a white militia takes over the streets of Virginia, burning houses and destroying neighborhoods, a small group of residents seek refuge at Thomas Jefferson’s residence, Monticello. The group had no way to know what is happening in their towns below and works to try and eek out a life on the same land that some of their ancestors were enslaved on. This story definitely reminded me of The Walking Dead or another post-civilization plot and it kept me hooked up until the very end.

The audio version had me from the first story narrated by LaVar Burton. The title novella is by far the most compelling in the collection. It is unsettling as it mirrors what is happening right now. Da’Naisha and her family flee when white supremacists start setting fires to the neighborhood. They find refuge at Monticello, Jefferson’s home. Shi is a descendant of Sally Hemmings and Jefferson. Having different narrators for each of the novellas in the audio version helps to delineate the stories and make each one powerful on its own.

I really loved that this book was a collection of short stories. It is the perfect book for this time right now. I intend on using parts of it for my American History course. Wonderful book.

I absolutely LOVED My Monticello. It's rare that a collection of short stories, that doesn't have a lot of short stories can grab my attention quickly and keep it. Will definitely be on my list of favorite books for 2021.

Wow!! Beautifully written and so unlike any novel I have read before! This book is thought-provoking at its core. As the descendant of Sally Hemings, Jefferson's slave and mother to 6 of his children, takes refuge from white supremacists at Monticello, a story unravels that can only widen your point of view and empathy for others. Although this is a work of fiction, I couldn't help but notice the eerie similarities between the Jan 6 insurrection at the Capitol Building and the almost Armageddon feel in the novel. Could this really happen? Where white supremacist groups could set fire to entire neighborhoods and send all residents into survival mode? Before Jan 6, I naively would have said there would never be that much hate in the world...Now, I am not so sure.

This author so clearly illustrates all that was sacrificed by and taken from Thomas Jefferson's slaves. I can't help but have grown from reading this book. It will haunt me for a very long time. I highly recommend.

I'm going to go against the majority of the readers who have praised this book, it may be that short stories are not my preferred read or maybe I didn't understand the connection between the first part of the book (the five short stories) and the second part (the novella part).

What I do agree with the reviewers is that the writing is impeccable and beautiful and that the story presented in the novella part is riveting and haunting. The author was able to weave past, present and future (for us the readers), and make it relevant for the times that we live right now with the political ambiance we are immersed in.

My rating of this book has more to do with my being unprepared to read it than anything else. I somehow missed that this was short stories so the switch between the first and second story was very jarring and confusing for me. Once I figured out my mistake, I was liking the stories. But then I got to the title story and made another mistake - I didn't realize how long it would be. I wasn't immediately taken by the story so I read a bit faster than I probably should have thinking I would get to another story that I would like better. By the time I realized that the title story was really a novella, it was too late for me to read it as deeply as I should have. So don't make the mistakes I made and end up not appreciating this book as much as you should. The book is short stories and the title story is the last story and it is very long.

For her debut, Johnson offers a small, fairly cerebral collection of short stories and the novella "My Monticello." If you've been even casually paying attention to the message of the Black Lives Matter movement, the themes will be familiar: violence against black bodies, contemporary redlining, complex legacies of slavery in the United States, the role of memorials in our communities. And this is a book best targeted for readers whose engagement with these ideas has thus far been superficial, people who may need to be coaxed into thinking about a topic- people who find keeping up with the news or reading Twitter testimonials too depressing. These stories aren't any less depressing, but they contain easily digestible nuggets of emotional truth that would spark discussion- and, in being fictional, provide readers with a bit of distance if they want it.

My favorite piece was "Something Sweet on Our Tongues," which uses the collective "we" of a clique of 10-year-olds, following them throughout a school day and into the moments their bubbly, mischievous energy percolates over into something cruel and destructive. It's clear Johnson knows and understands these kids, enabling her to create some space for empathy as well as judgment.

"My Monticello" expands on the themes of racism, belonging, and collective violence presented in "Something Sweet on Our Tongues" with mixed success. Novellas are a tricky length; they can lose the emotional impact that a tightly-written story might have or miss the emotional complexity that novels can embrace. Writing a novella of speculative fiction is particularly difficult because the reader has plenty of time to question the internal logic of the world the writer created- but the writer doesn't have much space to resolve those questions. Although "My Monticello" struggles with both of those challenges at times, Johnson creates a strong central female character who learns to claim a symbol as her own-and, by extension, reclaims a space for all of those who have lived there. The central idea is a powerful one- and I hope that when it's adapted to film, they deepen its impact by treating it more like a short story.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4295932961

A story I was so excited for but had too cut in my TBR stack.
The star ranking is not an indication of the quality of the book itself, but rather indicates the fact that this title was bumped from my list in anticipation of other books I’m more excited to read.

This is an impressive short story collection. The first story and titular novella were especially compelling, I’ll continue to think about this book and recommend it to friends.

Wow! Having been to Monticello and loved it, and lived in Virginia for a few years, this book resonated with me. This is the perfect book after the horrific, deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017. It’s rare that a book of short stories are equally dazzling but My Monticello contains six amazing stories. The title story was my favorite and I could picture it happening as a group of diverse Charlottesville residents took refuge in Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello to escape violent white supremacists. The sad part is it’s not the far off from our reality in 2021 even though it’s set in the future. I’m eager to read whatever Jocelyn Nicole Johnson writes next! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review a copy of the book. Highly recommend!

If you're merely into quantity, this book gives you five-for-the-price-of-one: five short stories and the novella after which the collection is named.

If you value quality, again you have multiple choices. When I finished reading My Monticello a month ago, I was sure that it would be the novella that stayed with me. But each day a different memory presents itself: the scientist-father who makes a case study of his son in Control Negro; the lyrical language of the bullet points in Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse ("Learn how to build a fire, clean a wound, skin and gut and say grace for a small once-living thing.")

The short stories are like practice runs in heartbreak, gearing you up for the main event: the profound dread and sadness of My Monticello, in which a group mostly Black and brown people must flee their Virginia city after climate and social crises cause general urban collapse. They find themselves at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, where they forge a survival unit.

This is one of the best-written books I've read in years. Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for an advance readers copy.

Absolutely loved this, and think it made a perfect read on audiobook with such stellar performances by the narrators! I know a lot of readers have commented on the novella, but for me the stand outs were the earliest stories..

Read if you enjoyed collections like Heads of the Colored People and The Office of Historical Corrections..

My Monticello is a sharp, pointed collection, featuring five short stories and the titular novella, that will stick with me for a long time. The collection's opening story, about police violence drew me in, and I kept going from there. The novella My Monticello is a stunning piece of work, conveying so much in so few pages. It's a stressful reading experience, but it should be.

While the book is fiction, its relation to events, slavery, racism decedents from slave owners, it is very engaging. Each piece in the collection is incredible well written - hard one to put down

This is a difficult book for me to review. The format, the style of the writing was just a style I personally enjoy. I do think this is a book worth reading, but more in an educational format or book club format, as there is a lot to unpack here and discuss.

I am an infrequent reader of short stories. I usually need a bit more time to get into a story, but I knew this group had amazing reviews so I decided to request it from Netgalley and was, thankfully, approved. I loved each of the 5 short stories preceding the novella that shares the title of this collection. My favorite short story was Control Negro, but each short story addressed important issues with surprisingly well-developed characters for short stories. The final story, a novella titled My Monticello, continued with this theme but added an aspect of suspense. The series gives ample opportunity for reflection on our current society.

This short-story collection includes a mix of stories that feel a bit awkward together. The title story is actually a novella and is the strongest piece in the collection, in my opinion. It feels a bit like the author couldn't get the novella published on its own and was asked to throw in a few other stories to round out a collection. I almost would have liked to have seen the novella expanded upon into a slightly longer piece, and the short stories not included. That being said, Johnson is clearly a gifted writer and the stories are all inventive and interesting in their own ways. I think this collection's strengths included characterization and dialogue. In my opinion, I feel it struggled most with pacing. I also had a hard time with the writing style, for some reason I found the rhythm to be very choppy and something about the way the sentences were put together, and the word choices, almost resisted being read. The rhythm was just off and I had a hard time getting into a flow while reading. This may just be a personal preference. I don't purchase a lot of short story collections for my library as they don't generally circ very well but this is one I have on order and I think it will make an important contribution to the collection. I really enjoyed the blend of apocalyptic/dystopian fiction with the literary genre.

Masterful, brilliant and sharp as a tack. How can this be the work of a debut author? It felt seasoned in its assured writing and au courant from tackling issues from yesteryear that still plague us today. The lens is opened wide through 6 stories, the title story being the novella of the book. It all begins with a short story that stopped me short with the title "Control Negro". A professor at a university is writing a letter to a son whom he conceived with one of his graduate students. The son does not know him, but the professor wanted to experiment with him, wondering if the child was given all the same advantages of a upper class white child, would he be his equal or better? Oh, ingest this story with your heart in your mouth. The title story rests on the main character Da'Naisha. The main thrust occurs when she and mostly black and brown individuals are herded from their homes as white vigilantes set their homes ablaze and threatened to kill them. They escaped to Jefferson's Monticello hill plantation, whose tarnished history included the 6 children that Jefferson sired with Sally Hemmings. The world may not have recognized the authenticity of their relationship but as a descendant of Sally, Da'Naisha knew the family lore that was transmitted from generation to generation. For the group, the plantation was swarming with remembrances of the slaves who created and served this edifice. It also symbolized the recognition and history that they had been denied. As the group bonded, a sense of community and family blossomed, while they reached for the universal wants--measurable material amenities and security, and all encompassing..LOVE. Much happens on the hill but you must must read this book that focuses its spotlight on continued racial injustice through these compelling vignettes . Uncompromising with such sumptuous characters, it is a book like no other. I positively loved it.

This novel was one of my most highly anticipated of the season. When I read the first story, I thought “oh no” this is going to be a huge disappointment for me. But I’m happy to say that the novella My Monticello redeemed it. I only wish that this had been a novel. I wanted to know so much more about the time and setting that this spectacular story took place.