It’s another one of those books that I really wanted to love but just couldn’t get into the story. Beautifully written, very important content, but just started skimming rather than reading.

3.5– I need to take a break from reading books that involve women suffering. I’m glad Annis was able to keep smtg for herself after being denied her autonomy & humanity.

This book weighs so heavy on the heart. Even the beauty of Ward’s masterful prose is enough to bring you to tears. This is a story of the astounding resilience of Annis, a 3rd generation slave living in the Antebellum South, as she experiences losing her mother, being sold by the white enslaver who fathered her, forced to embark on a deadly journey from the Carolinas all the way down to New Orléans, and bought to work at a Louisiana sugar plantation. Throughout the story, Jesmyn Ward uses magical realism to give Annis a way to connect to her mother and grandmother as she struggles to survive. Aza, the name of the wind spirit that follows Annis, has taken her grandmothers name and resemblance. Throughout her journey, Annis talks to Aza and learns much about her family, herself, and the spirit world. She balances her faith in the spirits with her belief in herself and her deep and undying love for her mother.
I think, for me, this novel was at times hard to follow along. There were long blocks of descriptive text and internal monologue that had me struggling to stay focused. However, the majority of this book was beautifully written and unrelentingly powerful. Annis, after every hardship no matter how horrible, was able to find love in even the smallest of things. Even when she was all alone, she was able to recognize the love and presence of the Earth and the Water and the creatures big and small. I was deeply moved by her fond descriptions of nature and Ward’s ability to really bring the natural world to life. And bonus points for unabashed black queer love!!! So excellent.

3.5
I loved this main character and was very invested in her journey.

This is my rating scale:
5 masterpiece
4 holy crap that's good
3 would recommend to a friend
2 not a complete waste of time
1 eh

Absolutely beautiful writing. It cut me to the core.

Where to start with this beautifully written narrative of the brutality imbued throughout an enslaved young woman’s extraordinary existence. After Annis’s mother is wrenched away by the enslaver who also fathered her, Annis, too, is sold and must travel from the Carolinas to a Louisiana sugarcane plantation by way of the New Orleans’ slave markets. Let Us Descend is about the spirits who both guide and manipulate and the mothers who are ever present even when stolen. Never will Annis relinquish her humanity to those who desire to own it. This is not a mere story of survival. It is one of reclamation.