Red at the Bone

I won an ARC of this from Goodreads and it. is. magnificent. Honestly, it is probably the best book I have read this year. Jacqueline Woodson has this magical way of bringing her readers right into her characters so that we're seeing and feeling through their eyes. This kind of empathetic writing is something that I've never seen and is what makes Woodson so utterly brilliant. Her characters, settings, and story are also so rich. Aubrey and Melody (and their relationship) are standouts for me, heartwarming and heart-crushing all at once.

"You're never leaving this world, Daddy. Cuz then you'd be leaving me. I'm never leaving you and you're never leaving me. That's all she wrote." (No lie, this line had me crying.)

Set in 2001 but moving back and forth in time, Red at the Bone is the story of a black Brooklyn family, told through their eyes at different ages. There's Iris, pregnant at 15 with Aubrey's baby, who she names Melody; Aubrey, in love with Iris and devoted to Melody; Iris' parents, Sabe and Po'Boy; Aubrey and his mother, who tutors Iris after she's kicked out of school, before dying of cancer; and Melody herself, raised by her father and grandparents while Iris came and went, first to Oberlin and then Manhattan.

Quotes

I wanted you...
And then the wanting was gone, wasn't it?
(Iris and Melody, 14)

Guess that's where the tears came from, knowing that there's so much in this great big world that you don't have a single ounce of control show more over....Some evenings I don't know where the old pains end and the new ones begin. Feels like the older you get the more they run into one long, deep aching. (49)

Shoot, I love that people think the world is even halfway ready for what we about to bring. (Malcolm to Melody, 175) show less

Red at the Bone is a lyrically written novel that swirls around three generations of a family. I loved that the timeline was fluid - there weren't clear flashbacks or chapter breaks that are in two different timelines. It just worked.

The book starts with Melody having a party for her 16th birthday. We quickly discover that her mother, Iris, had her at age 15 and Melody was largely raised by her grandparents and her teenage father, Aubrey. Nothing necessarily "happens" in a traditional sense of a plotted novel, but a lot is experienced and discovered. It's a good reminder that even close-knit families never reveal everything about their inner lives or their pasts on both ends of the generations - young and old.

This is a novel that is show more smart and gives a lot to think about, beautifully written, and has appealing characters. Definitely recommended if you haven't gotten to it yet. show less

The book opens with a party: Melody is sixteen, getting ready in her grandparents' brownstone, for an event that her mother, pregnant at fifteen, had not had herself.

Relationships between Melody, her mother Iris, her father Aubrey, and her grandparents are illuminated in the course of the novel which moves back and forth in time and each of the characters have a turn telling the reader his or her story. The result is a poignant, powerful exploration of two Black families living in Brooklyn, their histories, and the intricacies of their relationships. The spare prose, deceptively simple, conveys so much that I will have a lot to chew on long after I put the book down.

“Look how beautifully black we are. And as we dance, I am not Melody who is sixteen, I am not my parents’ once illegitimate daughter—I am a narrative, someone’s almost forgotten story. Remembered.”

“If this moment was a sentence, I’d be the period.”

This begins, as a coming of age story, with sixteen year old Melody, celebrating with her family in Brooklyn. Then the narrative shifts to different members of Melody's family, examining their own lives and decisions, good and bad, that helped develop them, into the people they became. The author explores a myriad amount of issues, like class, status, race, sex, parenthood and identity, perfectly folded into a tidy two hundred pages.
This is my third outing, by Woodson, and each show more one is a marvel of delicate prose, directing a loving spotlight on the African-American experience. show less

Red at the Bone is a beautiful, moving portrait of a family. Iris gave birth to her daughter Melody when she was only 15 years old. When the book opens, Melody is making an entrance at her Sweet Sixteen formal. Through short, lyrical chapters set in different points in time, we learn about Iris’ early relationship with Melody’s father, Aubrey, and Iris’ dogged determination to pursue a college education despite the responsibilities of motherhood. We see Iris’ parents, Sabe and Po’Boy, moving from disappointment in Iris’ pregnancy to deep, abiding love for their granddaughter.

Jacqueline Woodson writes with a poetic style that flows effortlessly across the page, delivering a story packed with emotion whether describing the show more love between two people, or the tragedy and loss the family faced over the years. Just beautiful. show less

I can’t do this book justice. It’s a lyrical exploration of family, expectation, and disappointment. Stories are shared from various points of view - Melody, just turned 16; her mostly-absent mother; her loving father; and her devoted grandparents. Through short vignettes, we learn of the complicated history of these characters, how they are connected, and how they pull against the obligations of those connections. It’s beautifully done. In under 200 pages, Woodson gives us a complete portrait of one family coming to terms with disappointed expectations, the burden of history, and unintended consequences.