Jesmyn Ward is an extremely talented writer, telling stories of a shocking and brutal part of American history that need to be heard. A first edition of Sing, Unburied, Sing has a place of honor on my bookshelf.

Annis is a complicated, haunted character. The voices of her mother and grandmother tether her to sanity in an unbearable situation.

One of Ward's many gifts is to describe a time and place with immersive prose. I felt the tendrils of Spanish moss and smelled the tidal marsh as I read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

See full review on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution website:

Two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward’s “Let Us Descend” is a searing and lyrical historical novel that voyages through the antebellum South in a stunning adaptation of Dante’s “Inferno” — the legendary 14th century poem chronicling an allegorical descent through hell.

Raw, transcendent and ultimately hopeful, Ward’s envisioning of American slavery follows a young woman who is guided by the ghost of her warrior grandmother on a harrowing journey from a Carolina rice farm to a Louisiana sugar plantation while desperately seeking freedom.

https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/magical-realism-infuses-slave-narrative-with-hope-in-let-us-descend/BGMZXQRHQNFLNLFNJMG7NBBCZA/

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for this eARC. I've become such a fan of Jesmyn Ward's work over the last several years. I know that I can always count on Ward's writing to intensely depict the Black experience, usually employing magical realism to mirror some of the traumatic experiences of the characters. Ward's premise is immediately engaging; she equates the descent into the southern half of the US during the TransAtlantic slave trade with Dante's journey into hell. Ward continually uses Dante's language, repeating the phrase, "Let us descend" in new and evocative ways. I will say that I found myself comparing this novel quite often to Morrison's Beloved, but this was equally brilliant in its own right.

Jesmyn Ward does not miss -- there's a reason why her books are instant classics. She writes with an unmistakable voice and an eye for setting and tone that transports the reader wherever she'd like us. In Let Us Descend, we are sent alongside Annis as she travels through the hells of chattel slavery; with an overheard lesson on Dante ringing in her ears, Annis descends through cruelty, violence, and indignity, moving from the Carolinas through to New Orleans. She's also visited by Aza, an ancestor and spiritual guide who offers wisdom and strength but whose trustworthiness is called into question as Annis struggles to climb her way back out of hell. This is a beautiful, difficult, brutal novel that demands to be read.

Gorgeously written, filled with lush imagery and the best kind of magical realism, this is a story that will grab you from the first sentence and stay with you LONG after the last word fades from the page. Jesmyn Ward is where it is at and EVERYONE should be reading her. Quite simply, one of the best books I have read this year and I totally understand why this is Oprah's newest pick. Book hangover is real and it will take me days to recover from this one and I will be thinking about this book for days to come.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jesmyn Ward, and Scribner for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, so good. Everything that I have come to expect from Ward’s books, and more. The addition of the supernatural level adds even more power to the temporal and the concrete history that she is able to achieve with such poetic horror. Everyone should read this author.

Thank you to Jesmyn Ward, Scribner, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The opening sentence of the novel grabbed my attention. “The first weapon I ever held was my mother’s hand.” After that sentence, I was eager to get into this novel. By the midpoint of the novel my excitement cooled. I lost track of what was the point of the story because I was sidetracked by magical realism elements that didn’t fit into the novel.

The novel is inspired by Dante’s Inferno. I was expecting to feel more like descending into hell via American chattel slavery. The Inferno influence didn’t come across as strongly as I hoped.

There is not much I can say about this novel except it is utterly brilliant. Ward has cemented a place as one of the premier authors of her generation. This was heart-wrenching, soul-rending perfection. One of the best of 2023.

✨ In my Jesmyn Ward era ✨

Let Us Descend is historical fiction set in the American South’s chattel slavery period, this time with a poetic and supernatural twist. The story follows Annis, daughter of an enslaved woman and her rapist/enslaver. Annis’s life descends further into suffering when her father sells her, and most of the tale follows her harrowing journey being walked from the Carolinas to New Orleans. Annis seeks solace inwardly by communicating with an embodied spirit of her ancestors that visits her in the manner of a guardian angel.

In this way, Let Us Descend does not feel novel to the genre of African American slavery stories. But Ward’s gorgeous prose and continued experimentation with ghost stories tells it in a way that haunts readers to the bone. There are multiple points in Annis’s journey where you think, “this can’t sink further into darkness.” And then it does. I had a literal sensation of sinking come over me during a couple vignettes. It reminded me of experiencing the hypnotism scenes in Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” for the first time. And the presence of the ancestral ghost really leans into the intergenerational trauma theme.

The author’s and publisher’s notes share that Ward wrote this during an intense grieving period, following the death of her spouse and father of her children. The pain of grief is coating everything in this book: it’s wearing Annis down, it’s in her bloodied feet, her empty stomach, the ghost that follows her, her lover’s touches, and the holes she sinks into. While this was not my favorite book of Ward’s I’ve read, you can tell from reading it how important it is.

Read this if:
✔️ You’re a Jesmyn Ward completist
✔️ You’ve gotten into Rivers Solomon but have never read Ward
✔️ You loved Sing, Unburied, Sing

I am a huge fan of Jesmyn Ward. “Men We Reaped” is one of my top 20 books of all time. Ward is a personal favorite and a lifetime auto-buy.

I was not surprised that this book was a pick for @oprahsbookclub . It’s historical fiction that focuses on resilience and the power of sisterhood.

I was not looking forward to reading a book about slavery at this time. S.A.D. Is here, a genocide is occurring, the world is a mess. Nevertheless, I pushed through and Ward’s writing drew me in.

The book follows a stolen (enslaved) girl , Annis, on a journey in chains from North Carolina to New Orleans. Ward does not shy away from the brutality and cruelty of slavery but she gives us a supporting cast of women who give us (and Annis) hope and fight.
The book is about transformation and the importance of connection, support, and love. It’s about rising on the shoulders of the women who came before while understanding that it’s ok to forge your own path.

This was a beautifully written book by an absolute genius of an author.
Thank you to @netgalley @scribnerbooks and @jesmynward for sending me a reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written book that is a tough read. A story about one woman’ s life in slavery is both heartbreaking and extraordinary with some magic realism thrown in.

✨ Review ✨ Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward is one of my all-time favorite authors. Her writing is visually-striking and emotive in a way that brings you into these worlds of families and pain and environmental devastation. This book does these things yet again!

But this is also a hard book to review, because while the writing is striking and emotive, it is a very very HARD book to read -- the pain is tangible in a way that made me need to put this down for a bit between readings. This isn't a bad thing -- if anything, it better brings you into this horrific world of Annis.

It's also hard to read because a lot of it takes place inside of Annis. It's not a fast-moving book but a book build upon the drudgery and trudging along of this enslaved woman. Again, this felt appropriate and necessary even, but added to the challenge of reading this book.

I don't want to give away the journey of Annis, but I'm amazed at the way Ward rooted her in this world -- the natural world, the world of pain and trauma of enslavement, a world of familial love and support, a world of chaos and starvation. This world is full of pain but also small acts of resistance among the rest.

Genre: historical fiction sometime in the pre-Civil War South
Reminds me of: The Prophet by Robert Jones Jr. and Night Wherever We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton
Pub Date: October 24, 2023

Read this if you want:
⭕️ an immersive book on the pain and trauma of enslavement
⭕️ a challenging but important historical fiction read
⭕️ a book grounded in the natural world of the South

Thanks to Scribner and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copies of this book!

Let Us Descend
Author Jesmyn Ward
Available now!

Thank you, @bookclubfavorites and @scribnerbooks, for my #gifted copy! I have read a few other's of Ward's, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read her latest. Also, Let Us Descend is an @oprahsbookclub pick!

At this point, I feel that I can safely say that Ward owns the literary award for writing about the most heart- wrenching and challenging experiences of the Black South. Her poetic writing style is one of a kind, and Let Us Descend once again is filled with her signature brilliance of weaving the most harrowing and horrifying experiences with bravery, resilience, and survival.

Let Us Descend is the hardest and most challenging novel that I've read in quite some time, and I do admit, I've read some historical fiction with difficult subject matter this year. However, slavery before the Civil War and the ugly and atrocious history of how America thrived on the backs of slaves, torturously had them walk in chains from the Carolinas to be sold at slave markets in New Orleans, and what they endured at the hands of their evil white enslavers was nothing short of hellish and utterly appalling.

Through magical thinking, myth, and the sheer will to survive, Annis's story of resilience is told, and it is life altering. Unforgiving, unbelievable, and so incredibly unsettling, Let Us Descend is such a powerful and emotional novel.

4.5 stars!

A haunting, immersive tale of the hellscape that was slavery in America. This is also a story of a mother-daughter relationship in a time. Incredibly written, this is a powerful yet disturbing story.

- LET US DESCEND takes the framework of Dante's INFERNO and applies it to the story of a young enslaved girl. As you might expect, this book is dark and often horrific read, but in Ward's hands the story gives us both the beauty and the pain of Annis, the people she encounters, and the landscape she inhabits.
- This book is a study in the many forms grief can take, both on personal and community-wide levels, born both out of pain and love.
- Personally, I wished for a little more detail on the spirits Annis encountered, but that might just be the sci-fi/fantasy reader in me, I always want more there.

Beautifully written, but not a strong story.

The idea is good: Dante's Inferno but set during slavery in the American south. Ward's use of language is poetic and fierce. The sentences are beautifully crafted and it's obvious that Ward is one of the best writers in America today.

But ...

The overall story was boring. Unlike Sing, Unburied, Sing, not much happens in this book. The cover with its cute honey bee masks a horrific detailed descent into hell that details each slow step. Step after slow step. Horrific stories are important to tell, I'm not saying that every book or story should leave the reader feeling good, but there should be some deep emotional experience, even if there's going to be a sad or angry one. But not enough happened for me to have that deep emotional experience here. I was bored.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Story: 1 star
Character Development: 3 star
Writing: 5 star

I recently started Let Us Descend and its lyrical beauty has already won me over. It is heavy so I am reading it at a much slower pace but it's good beauty like deserves savoring.⁣
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Summary⁣
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.⁣
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Thank you @netgalley for this complimentary copy! Let Us Descend is out today!⁣

Final review:
-4 stars for how powerful and beautiful it was
-3.5 because a lot was difficult to follow

Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward, is a masterpiece of language, character, and tragedy. The main character is a very young woman whose spirit allows her transcend the horrors of enslavement in the Deep South. While there are many similar accounts, Ward's mastery of language sets this novel apart and transcends the genre. There were so many moments when I read a sentence and had to pause to just contemplate the beauty of the words and the emotions conveyed. This is a hard, grim tale that is also so heroic. I'm awed by this author's talent! Thank you NetGalley and Scribner Publishers, for allowing me to read a digital ARC. It was my privilege.

As fine a book as I have ever read. The innermost look at the immense cruelty of slavery is intense and incredibly personal. This book is different. It is creative and inspiring and horrifying and brutal, and moving. From its roots in Africa, to the inhumanity of slavery in the US, and on to the immense inner strength of this woman. It is upsetting, dramatic, and soul-stirring. It will be enduring.

The writing in this book is beyond beautiful which often makes the brutality of the story that much harder to read. I found the first half more interesting than the second - the story of the spirits kind of confused me - but in the end, it left me both heartbroken and hopeful in the way only a great novel can.

Thanks to Scribner for the copy to review,