I enjoy reading historical fiction. This book was set in 1960s-1990s. All the changes of the black community during this time. I loved reading how close the village was and the family love.The family support and affection was strong & needed.

But at times it was very hard to follow with so many characters. Some parts dragged on & I became a bit distracted.

Overall it was refreshing to read of middle class black Americans making their way during a tough time. There is no generational trauma..I would recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley . Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I really wanted to like this book about a Black family from Columbia, SC set mostly from the 1960's-1990's. There were some great characters and the sense of family and neighborhood were strong. However the narrator often changed, sometimes in the middle of the chapter, which was confusing. I mixed up characters and their experiences because of it.

Délana R. A. Dameron’s Redwood Court is a delightful, touching surprise of a debut novel. Opening with a middle schooler’s family history assignment for social science class, the book tells the multigenerational story of a black family. Having bought their dream home on Redwood Court, a cul de sac in a new all-black Columbia, South Carolina neighborhood, James (“Teeta”) Mosby and wife Louise (“Weesie”), born in the 1930s) raise their children and later host their grandchildren. It is their daughter Rhina’s younger daughter Mika (born 1985), the only black student in her class, who consults the family about how to handle the social science assignment when her ”immigrant” ancestors were slaves.

Unlike so many recent novels focusing on black generational trauma, Dameron portrays a loving, supportive family, generally happy, with a mix of funny, touching, sad, and occasional troublesome moments. Granted, some anecdotes involve racism, but the family does not allow itself to be defined by those moments.
Clearly marked shifting viewpoints allow family stories to come to life as readers experience their daily lives—work, school, shopping, barbecues, fishing trips, card games, and much more. Now and then, a story told from one person’s point of view will recur later from another point of view, adding depth and meaning to the experience. Readers not only get o know three generations of the family, but also meet neighbors, distant out-of-town relations, and even a teenage foster child on the verge of aging out of the system.

The author includes a descriptive list of characters at the front of the book, helping readers keep track of all close family members, out-of-town distant relations, and Redwood Court neighbors. Dameron’s use of enticing chapter titles made me anticipate what lay ahead and sometimes took on surprising meanings, among them “Working My Way Back to You, Babe,” “Cinderelly, Cinderelly, “Thirty-second Annual Chitlin Strut,” “Rollin’ with My Homies,” and "Call a Spade a Spade.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an advance reader copy of this engrossing and emotion-packed new book. I will look forward to more from Délana R. A. Dameron.

Redwood Court has my heart. As a 80's born baby and a child of the 90's, I felt like I understood Mika so much. I'm a white woman so my obviously my life and struggles are different from Mika's but so similar as well. I was very close to my maternal grandparents. We spent every Friday after school there until after dinner. On Saturday's we went over as soon as we were done with lunch and most of the time, either my brother or I spent the night on Friday or Saturday nights. On Sunday's we had Sunday lunch with them after church and didn't go home until evening. My granddaddy liked to take us for rides and see people he knew or go sit at the creek in similar ways to Mika's Teeta. My mom's brother was constantly involved with drugs and in trouble with the law and similarly was locked up when my granddaddy passed. The beginning of Redwood Court focuses a lot of Mika and Teeta's relationship and boy, did that leave me with an ache over the loss of my grandaddy. Currently, my other granddaddy isn't doing well and I live so far away from my family that I got a huge case of homesickness. Redwood Court highlights the culture of the 90's and it was a nostalgic walk through that time period especially with in home computers, internet at home, burning cds and y2k. Redwood Court made me feel a lot of things. I laughed and cried through much of it but maybe nostalgia is what shone through the most. It was a trip down memory lane from my own childhood. The good ole days. The ending felt abrupt in that I wasn't ready for it to be over. I wanted more of Mika's story. I want to know if she ever dates Roger and what happens after she graduates high school. I'll miss Weesie and Mika and the rest. They felt like family.

I have a particular fondness for family saga novels, and Redwood Court was presented as a tale centered around a family residing on Redwood Court in Columbia, SC. The narrative unfolds through the perspective of Mika, offering insights into the challenges faced by her parents and grandparents.

Throughout my reading experience, I found it challenging to fully engage with the storyline. I repeatedly wondered about the direction of the plot and felt that events lacked meaningful development. Each narrative presented a glimpse into the family's life, but the threads were often left hanging without resolution. The lack of continuity left me questioning, "What happens next?"

It wasn't until I approached the conclusion that I grasped the nature of the book – a compilation of distinct stories. While all revolving around the same family, these narratives lacked a cohesive timeline and struggled to establish meaningful connections with each other beyond the shared familial backdrop.

Had I been aware that the book comprised short stories, I might not have chosen it. Whether intentional by the author and publisher or not, the disjointed nature of the narratives nearly led me to abandon the book on multiple occasions. However, my commitment to providing a review for the advance readers copy kept me pushing through to the end.

I thought this was a beautifully woven story about generations of a Southern Black family told through the lens of the youngest girl, Mika, who is being raised in the 90s. It deals with the story of her grandparents, her parents, and herself with all the other family and friends along the way. It talks about how Redwood Court was created and the different opinions of the area. It is a beautifully written composite of a difficult story matter. Highly recommend reading this one.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Genre: Fiction, Family Saga
[TW: Death of a loved one, incarceration, systemic racism]

“You know, you sit at our feet all these hours and days, hearing us tell our tales. You have all these stories inside you— that’s what we have to pass on— all the stories everyone in our family knows and all the stories everyone in our family tells. You have the stories you’ve heard and the ones you’ve yet to hear. The ones you’ll live to tell someone else. That’s a gift that gives and gives and gives. You get to make it into something for tomorrow. You write ’em in your books and show everyone who we are.”

Redwood Court is an incredible debut with a unique and beautiful writing style. Redwood Court follows a Black family living in the Southern United States in the 1960s as they create their family, expand their community, and actualize the “American Dream”. The story is primarily told from the point of view of the youngest member of the family, Mika, however there are several points of view through the story including the matriarch of the family Weesie, Teeta the patriarch of the family, and Mika’s mother, Rhina. Dameron’s writing style is both beautiful and unique and each chapter reads as it’s own short story that amplifies the Black experience in a world of systemic and systematic racism, microaggressions, and The American Dream.

Dameron’s writing captivated me from the beginning and continued to draw me back for more - it is clear that while this is her debut novel, she’s made a name for herself as a poet. I fell in love with the tenacity, emotion and love of each character in this novel and I suspect every reader will feel the same way. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the 90s nostalgia thrown into the book - Jagged Little Pill, Y2K, AIM - that threw me right back into my own youth in the 90s.

Overall, a unique and well done story about the tribulations of being a young girl in the 90s as well as the additional struggles of being told about the American Dream while living in a world that keeps that just out of reach.

There were some truly lovely moments in this debut novel, scenes of fierce family love that moved me deeply. Through slice of life chapters that read like self-contained short stories, DéLana R.A. Dameron explored multiple generations of a Southern Black family coming of age, finding their places in the world, and celebrating the thriving community they made on Redwood Court. While there were some very powerful chapters, overall I found the novel a little too disjointed for me to feel familiar with the characters, especially as the narration often switched partway through a chapter. I also felt a bit aimless while reading; though plot was not the main goal of the story, I did wonder where exactly the stories were leading, and I’m not sure the ending was entirely satisfying for me.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I typically love family dramas, but there were way too many characters in this novel to keep up with.

This highly autobiographical debut novel centers around a Black family in Columbia, South Carolina, in the latter part of the 20th century. Primarily told through the eyes of Mika, a young girl coming of age in this tight-knit community, the novel also looks back at her grandparents, Teeta and Weesie, as they purchase a home on Redwood Court after the Korean War. The story meanders through the family members' lives, exploring themes of ancestry, community, and the American Dream. I was distracted by a chapter near the end of the book where the voice suddenly and purposelessly switches to second person, and overall I would have preferred a stronger narrative arc, but I did enjoy this novel.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC.

A gentle tale of a family in 1990s South Carolina- told by multiple members but mostly by Mika, the youngest. It's her diary that most engaged me. There are problematic moments and moments of grace. Nothing much really happens in terms of family drama but that's true for most real families, isn't it, and that's the appeal of this. Dameron clearly likes her characters. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

I appreciated some of the poetic prose in this book, as well as the journey of the family as they navigate the homeownership as Black people in the United States. Redwood Court is the family's home, hub and saving grace as they grapple with love, loss, incarceration, and rites of passage. "Redwood Court" reminds us that home is not just rooms, its the dreams and loves that the people in those rooms can hold. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, The Dial Press for permission to read this work prior to its publication date.

Redwood Court tracks the course of multiple generations of one family in Columbia, South Carolina. While many individuals were highlighted, the bulk of the book is seen through the eyes of Mika, the granddaughter of the Weesie and Teeta who first moved into Redwood Court after the end of the Korean War. Weesie cares deeply about her neighbors and helps out where she can. She and Teeta have two children- their daughter Rhina is Mika's mother. I appreciated that Dameron put an index of characters and how they relate to one another in the beginning of the book because for much of the beginning I had to reference how they knew one another, though it was easier as the book progressed. This was a really nice debut- overlapping the familial dynamics, the reader is also able to encounter how living as a Black person in the South has changed (and not) over generations. I would not say a lot of plot happens, but this is a moving novel that I would recommend to others.

Thank you to Random House, the Dial Press via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

Redwood Court is a multi-generational story about a Black family from Columbia, South Carolina. The story is told from a few different perspectives but is mostly narrated by the youngest grandchild named Mika. She is a child of the 1990s and early 2000s. At first glance, you wouldn't think this white woman from Wisconsin would have much in common with Mika and her family, but this story made me so nostalgic for summers spent in Tennessee with my grandparents who lived in a cul-de-sac reminiscent of Mika's grandparents' neighborhood. This is definitely a character-driven story. Not much happens, but the characters are richly drawn and I found them all to be very relatable. This was a 5-star read for me.

Thank you to Random House, The Dial Press, and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of Redwood Court.

A beautiful ode to family and oral history as told to Mika her whole life. Mika's family lands post Korean War in Columbia, South Carolina. More specifically, the family home is chosen with the utmost care by the matriarch, Weesie, in a black, middle-class neighborhood on Redwood Court.
It is from that home we the reader and Mika the granddaughter of Weesie, learn about her people both far and near. From grandparents to distant cousins and relatives, Mika is exhorted to write it all down, to be the keeper of the stories.
At times a bit choppy with the POV changing and some people coming and going without staying long enough to understand their purpose in the book, Redwood Court reads like a tale told often around BBQs, games of Spades, and Sunday Dinners. Racism as experienced in America from the 1950's - 1990's is as much a part of Mika's family history as are family trips, Sunday church, loss of beloved family members, and Little Debbie snacks.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I really tried getting into the book but I just couldn’t. This my first time reading this author not sure if it was her writing style. I also felt the book was all over the place and it ended abruptly.

I love when a coming-of-age storyline comes together with a family saga. This book covers over three decades of family life, but the longer chapters and the multiple POVs made the book feel a bit more drawn-out.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

"Redwood Court" is something special—a story about nothing in particular.

In a lesser author’s hands, that would be a bad thing, but DéLana R. A. Dameron crafts a novel reminiscent of the warm but low-stakes storytelling one might find in, say, a Beverly Cleary book.

There’s no drama here except what one might expect in the average person’s life. Questions of identity and origin arise, but not with the earth-shattering weight we are accustomed to in stories like this. Instead, they are presented with the matter-of-factness with which real people would respond—“Oh, this is something new to factor into our lives.” This resistance to melodrama means that Dameron has no narrative shortcuts at her disposal, and she hinges everything on the strength of her characters. Thankfully, it’s a wise gamble. Very rarely am I struck by a narrator’s voice, but "Redwood Court" is a rare exception, and the author approaches each of her characters with care.

As the book settles into its cadence, it feels increasingly like listening to someone share a story, complete with all the extraneous details, digressions, and interruptions that make our friends idiosyncratic and lovable.

I can see some readers being annoyed at the story’s lack of momentum, but in a climate where fiction glorifies trauma narratives, I found it really refreshing. If anything, it made me aware of how unhealthy our appetites are for dark stories from BIPOOC authors. Those stories have their place and are necessary, but it’s telling that I was primed for this to take a horrible turn. A book that has the maturity to avoid such a shift is inherently praiseworthy, even more so when it’s actually good at it.

I didn’t love this one. I liked the concept and the characters but there just wasn’t enough plot to keep me fully engaged.

Thank you to NetGalley gift providing me with an early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A coming of age story that will resonate with those that grew up in the eighties and nineties. It’s the world seen through the eyes of a girl growing into her teenage years, reflecting on the lives of the people she loves, the family she’s always known and the street that served as the family's anchor. I thought it was well done. As someone born in the eighties, who grew up in the nineties there were plenty of moments filled with nostalgia. I could see some of my own relationships with family members reflected on the pages and remembered moments similar to what the author described. While I loved how reflective this novel was, there were moments where the writing felt disjointed. The pacing of the book was fine, but the change in narrative, sometimes within chapters, didn’t lend itself to the story as well as I hoped and wanted it to.