Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Este mundo ciego

This was so deep and hard and sad. It’s just a realistic look at the horrors of slavery combined with what might have been. It was hard to be in this headspace for too long, but it’s definitely beautifully written

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jakobmarleymommy's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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bookishkellyn's review against another edition

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challenging dark

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I don’t even really understand what I just read–or what the point of the book was–so I’m withholding a numerical rating. The synopsis was accurate but really undersold how big a role the spirits played in the storyline. I almost felt like the spiritual element got more face time than the main character (Annis/Arese). It revolved heavily around the ambiguous nature of her ‘ancestral’ spirit (Aza). The vibe was ultra gloomy with fleeting tender moments from love interests (Safi & Bastian). If this hadn’t been a book club read, I would’ve DNF’d for sure.

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kitta's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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haley313's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Gut-wrenching and emotionally taxing from start to finish, but written beautifully. I love Jesmyn Ward’s prose - it’s so raw and visceral. An important story.

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

Context:

I chose Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward for my November 2023 Book of the Month pick. It is my second Jesmyn Ward book; I read Sing, Unburied, Sing a while back and loved it.

Review:

I had a lot of conflicting thoughts when reading Let Us Descend. Ward is an incredibly talented writer, and this book features many instances of her beautiful prose. I love the way she describes things—from the natural world to character descriptions, Let Us Descend is full of evocative word choices. On the other hand, the main character Annis and her central storyline felt flat to me. The story places a lot of emotional weight on Annis’s relationship with her mother and a fellow enslaved girl, but these relationships are hastily developed. Annis herself remains somewhat of a blank slate; I found the story’s side characters to be much more interesting.

In general, I liked the portions of the story in which Annis interacts with other people and disliked the portions that involved the spirit world. I’m not opposed to magical realism, but the fantasy elements in Let Us Descend really, really did not work for me. I cannot see what they contribute to Annis’s story or the thematic elements of the story as a whole. Naturally, the last part of the book, which follows Annis’s journey with the spirits, dragged for me. It felt like Ward used the last portion of the book as a personal emotional catharsis, and in the process lost sight of the story.

The Run-Down:

You might like Let Us Descend if . . .

· You want to read an empowering magical realism story about slavery that draws upon Dante’s Inferno

· You appreciate beautiful sentences

You might not like Let Us Descend if . . .

· You disliked unexplained magical elements

· You want a book with a well-written main character and a tightly constructed plot

· You don’t want to read descriptions that border on body horror

A Similar Book:

Trinity by Zelda Lockhart.

Similarities include:

· Magical realism/Black Americans haunted by spirits