This was my first novel by Jesmyn Ward even though her others have been on my TBR list for some time.

It’s no doubt that Wards lyrical way with words is unique. This was well written and the emotions and pain of all that Annis experiences were felt. If I’m honest I closed this one feeling exhausted. It was heavy throughout and one I had to force myself to finish.

I believe there is an energy exchange with words and there are strong underlying threads here of sadness and grief and never ending turmoil. I hope the creation of this helped Ward release some of that as I saw she wrote this after losing her husband during the pandemic 💔

”’Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world,’ and his words echo through me.”

Once again, Jesmyn Ward writes a novel filled with suffering and finds a way to ease her characters and readers through the grief with beautiful, heart wrenching prose. In this time of silencing others, I hope this book makes it to high schools and colleges as required reading. Some may say white students don't want to feel bad about being white, or we don't need another book about slavery, yet, libraries are filled with tedious romance and mysteries that may make readers more comfortable, but this novel awakens us to the hell so many people endured while they were enslaved. Readers follow the life of Annis, a young girl who is sold by the man who fathered her after raping her mother over and over, who connects with her deceased mother and grandmothers as spirits, who protect, push, and ease her solitude on her horrendous journey from the Carolinas to Louisiana. The images of the water, the drownings and near drowning, the hole that serves as solitaire prison, the hunting for mushrooms, and love between the women who embrace and care for each other make this a remarkable novel.

I absolutely loved the writing in Let Us Descend. The story covers a woman’s life and experiences as an enslaved person who is striving for freedom. There is a blend of realism and magic in the form of different spirits that interact with the world. We see how family legacy has been passed from generation to generation and how the inner strength of each woman has been passed along.

I haven’t read another book like this. I thought there was strong character development, and overall was beautifully written.

Sired by the plantation owner, Annis grows up in slavery but is able to maintain some sense of self. She works every day but goes home with her loving mother each evening. On the moonlit evenings her mother takes her to the woods to train her in combat just as her warrior grandmother trained her. The narrative takes a turn when Annis reaches young womanhood and her mother is sold South causing an almost unsurmountable grief for Annis. She does gradually find some solace in her friendships but then she herself is sold as well. As Annis is forced on a grueling walk over many weeks to New Orleans she begins to take notice of a spirit of wind and storms who has become intertwined with her family. Whether the spirit can help her to find safety and freedom in the exceptionally cruel world of the American South is hard to predict.

Let Us Descend is a story of familial love and also abject loss and heartbreak. It is a story of lineage and suffering. Having read many of Jesmyn Ward's modern novels I was thrilled to see that she was ready to write a historical novel of the American South as well. This heartfelt book does not disappoint. Many thanks to NetGalley and to Simon & Schuster for advance access to this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I chose to DNF this book at 45%.
This was my first book by Jesmyn Ward, and I had high expectations! Unfortunately, the writing style didn't work well for me. It was very "purple prose", and it may have been my fault for not knowing the author's style before picking up the ARC. The portion of this book I did read was extremely heartbreaking and hard to read, although clearly an important story.

This book is a gem! I read it in 2 days. The writing is spectacular and beautiful. Slavery was an ugly thing but the writing in this book is worth reading!

Let Us Descend is a well written book dealing with a very difficult, heart wrenching story about the very long and arduous journey of a young slave woman, Annis. The book was slowly paced as was her journey. I stuck with Let Us Descend to the end and appreciated the telling of her story, but had difficulty with the overwhelming presence of her connection with the spirit world.

Let Us Descend is about Annis, an enslaved person in the southern US, and her experiences in the dehumanizing environment of plantations. I didn't think I needed to read another book about slavery, but this was definitely worth the read. Annis is a woman that knows her worth, and has a strong sense of her ancestry - a descendent of a woman warrior in Africa. She is resourceful and fights for moments of independence & freedom, despite the consequences. You feel so much from this book, and I recommend it to everyone

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Reading Let Us Descend is much like reading Dante's Inferno. With gorgeous language author Jesmyn Ward leads us into a world of hellish horror:, the cruelty of slavery in the American South and the cruelty of human beings against other human beings. Forced to endure walking from South Carolina to Louisiana, roped together with other slave women, Annis, whose mother was forced along the same path the previous year, is eventually sold to a woman owner of a sugar cane plantation. The cruelties only intensify and coping becomes increasingly difficult. Throughout her ordeals, Annis is visited by a spirit who claims to have also visited her mother and grandmother. I am not a fan of magical realism and my discomfort with the genre and with elements of the genre was not changed by this novel. As a more practical realist, I much more appreciated that skills and attitudes her mother had taught her than the vagaries of a spirit that was not always with her. Ward's beautiful writing kept me from abandoning the book more than once. There is definitely a large group of readers who will be eager to read and who will appreciate Let Us Descend.

Jessmyn Ward is a wonderful writer and I adore her prose so I couldn't wait to read it. This book was a heartbreaking story of slavery. The book was chockfull of magical realism, the horrible conditions of slavery, and the struggle to be free.

Description:
“‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’” — Inferno, Dante Alighieri

Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

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 of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.

From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet, a masterwork for the ages.

My Thoughts:
I always have a difficult time reading about slavery because I can't understand how people can be so cruel. The conditions of life as a slave are hard to imagine and shock me terribly. I had to put the book down several times because it hurts too much to think people could treat an entire race as less because of their skin color. The story is a good one. Although I wasn't crazy about all the magical realism, I could see how it would be possible for someone in Annis' situation to lock out reality and cling to the spiritual teachings of her mother when escaping in her mind. I liked how strong and courageous both Annis and her mother were throughout all the hardships they were forced to endure.

Thanks to Scribner through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on October 24, 2023.

5 stars

Jesmyn Ward is one of my favorite writers, and this most recent effort is yet another example of her range and artistry.

Readers meet Annis when she is a young girl living with her mother in bondage at the home of their respective enslaver/"Sire" and enslaver/rapist. The very fact that Annis refers to this monster as "my Sire" is chilling in isolation. There's no childhood in this world and there is no innocence, but there is abject horror all around. Those horrors do not stop, so it's particularly moving when Annis and others around her find shards of distraction or opportunities to engage with their humanity in the face of people and circumstances who relentlessly attempt to isolate them from this. An added layer here is that the horrors are not limited to currently living humans. The characters who infuse magical realism reveal that while one is never alone, that means they are also never alone *in their suffering*. This is a particularly profound way to reveal the extensive impacts not only of what happens to Annis and other characters we meet but to their entire families and communities in perpetuity.

The briefest description of this book should clue in readers effectively; it's not an easy read, and it is riddled with all of the atrocities one expects in conjunction with this theme (so insert every TW you can think of here). It is also tightly constructed, aesthetically stunning, and undoubtedly indelible. This is a feat, and Ward is a gift.

3.5 stars, rounded down
Let Us Descend is a beautifully written book, but a hard story to read. It’s a hard book to rate as I adored the writing but felt the story was lacking.
Taking place in the years before the Civil War, it covers the sale of a black woman from a Carolina rice plantation to a sugar plantation in Louisiana. Annis is marched, along with dozens of other slaves the entire way, through every hellscape imaginable. I could feel the pain of her bones, the writing is that vivid. Life at the sugar plantation is just as hard and Annis is subjected to multiple cruelties.
I sometimes struggle with magic realism and I can’t say it was a success here. Annis has been raised on the tale of her grandmother, an African warrior sold into slavery. Her mother trained her in combat and the use of spears. Throughout the story, she is visited by the spirit who oversaw both her grandmother and mother before her. It is a demanding spirit, and also a fickle one. She also seeks out her mother in her dreams. Her reliance on the spirits for answers does help to outline her loneliness and how much has been taken away from her. But in the end, I really wanted more reality and less spirit. I felt the paranormal took away from the story of a woman trying to remain strong in the worst of conditions.
I am the outlier here as I found this much less satisfactory than her prior two books.
My thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for an advance copy of this book.

In this masterpiece, Jesmyn Ward does an exceptional job exploring the inhumanity of slavery through the story of a young, female slave named Annis. I found the writing exceptional and the story/details heartbreaking at times. This is an important novel. I really liked the magical realism throughout the novel. This exceptional work should garner a lot of attention, readers, and awards.

LET US DESCEND is another literary masterpiece from national treasure Jesmyn Ward. As always, her prose is gorgeous, honed to a perfect point. The writing is careful here, and you can tell she devoted significant time and attention to this story (as she always seems to). Annis is a compelling main character. The story of slavery is, of course, harrowing and thus this can be a difficult novel to read. I found myself having to take breaks, but I always looked forward to dipping back in. The spiritual aspects of the narrative add a lovely dimension. I also appreciate the economy of the novel; there is no extraneous padding, and the relatively short length helps with pacing and keeps the reader turning the pages. This one is highly recommended for fans of literary fiction.

This was my first book by Ward and it definitely won’t be my last. I feel so compelled to read her backlist. This was so achingly beautiful and it felt so visceral. The language that she used, the command that she has over the English language for the storytelling is so heart-piercing. This will stay with me for a very long time.

Let Us Descend by Jasmyn Ward is such a beautiful story that follows Annis through her trails and tribulations of being a slave pre civil war era. Her mother teaches her the survival skills of her ancestry warriors at night. After Annis’s mother is sold off by her sire, Annis must make her way in life without her. Annis and Safi, another slave working in the the house becomes friends and lovers formed by their sorrows and losses. Annis and Sadie are both sold a few months after her mother. They soon travel the same paths on their journey to New Orleans. Safi escapes and Annis only wishes that she finds freedom. During the journey Annis feels that she is being followed by a woman but she soon realizes that it is a spiritual being of the Wind known as Mama Azi. This book is so poetic and lyrical that I couldn’t put it down. This is the first book by Jasmyn Ward and won’t be the last. It will definitely be a recommendation for book club. Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advice copy.

3.5 stars rounded up for a historical fiction book set in pre-Civil War US. The narrator is Annis, a slave on a Carolina plantation. She is sold off when she evades her owner's advances, and he finds her in the embrace of another woman slave. The book has paranormal aspects, where she talks to her mother and grandmother in dreams and a spirit who inhabits the spirit of her grandmother. The narration frequently is a stream of consciousness style. I give the author credit for doing her research, consulting slave narratives from still living slaves recorded by the Federal Writers' project in the 1930s.
This reimaging of a slave's life mentions some of the tortures endured by slaves during this time.
One quote, Annis at a slave auction: "The men who stop and inquire blur to one after a week. The only thing that shines clear when they hesitate before is that which tells their cruelty. A riding crop rapped against a leg."
Thanks to Ashley Gilliam at Scribner/Simon & Schuster for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.

My first book by this author. It was absolutely amazing walking through Annis’ Journey alongside her. The book was placed well and beautifully written.

This is a beautifully written, complex story of slavery in America. It is not an easy read as all the cruelties and despair are present, describing slavery.

The subject matter is chilling but the writing elevates the story. Using the main character brings a very personal element to the experience of being trapped in an ugly system.

I'm not sure adding an element of mysticism was beneficial but it didn't detract from the book.

I highly recommend this thought provoking, well crafted book.

Now I get it. I’ve tried to read Ward before, and didn’t succeed in warming to her poetic voice and impassioned content. But this time, we clicked. This is a full, fearless and compelling tale, assembled with confidence and technical brilliance. Others say that we are familiar with the content, but I found its portrait of slavery more intense and terrible than others I’ve read. More pitiless, more quotidianly cruel and complete.
Ward also manages to dodge many - but not all - predictabilities.
Did I like the spiritual dimension? Not all the time, but I applaud the use of it. And the Dante parallel. I’ll be recommending this one