Whew! This book was a real challenge to read. The story is heart-wrenching and beautiful--the love between the two main characters, young enslaved men in the antebellum South, was pure. And I appreciated the complexity of all the strong female characters. But the prose is so esoteric that I found it inaccessible. I frequently felt like I was missing what was going on, what the author was trying to convey. I would be interested to re-read this book with a literature class so that I could more fully appreciate it.

Samuel and Isaiah, two slaves from a Mississippi cotton plantation have an intimate relationship. Voices from the plantation, and others from an African village, tell the story of the love between two men.

Hello fellow reader. Walk with me through these Sliding Doors to an alternate reality where Nelson Mandela died in prison and I grew up reading books about the Barenstein Bears. In other words, I'm embarking on a journey to check in on another Me (and see what he's been reading).

Back in December 2020, having recently joined Book of the Month (BotM), I was faced with choosing one of five books, none of which sounding of any interest to me. I had narrowed my selection down to The Prophets or [b:This Close to Okay|53916130|This Close to Okay|Leesa Cross-Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603745279l/53916130._SY75_.jpg|67891715]. I chose the latter and hated it. A few months ago a friend of mine was telling me about the books she is using for a college course she's teaching. She offered to loan me one - The Prophets - unknowingly affording me a glimpse into the life of the Me who made a different Choose Your Own Adventure BotM selection.

So why didn't I fare any better having made a different choice? First off, the writing style was not for me. It felt very abrasive working it's way through my grey matter. The writing just didn't serve the story well. It distanced me from the narrative, instead of pulling me in, detracted from any deep emotional impact and left the characters feeling shallow. I started thinking of the style as faux profound (fauxfound? fauxpround?). At so many points I would stop to reread and better digest a sentence that sounded dense with significance only to realize it was essentially meaningless. It was like biting into the ear of a chocolate Easter bunny only to find it's hollow and not solid. It also seemed like the author really wanted to emulate Toni Morrison, however I found that aspiration was about as successful as a Snatch Game Beyoncé impersonation.

And then there was the roulette wheel of POVs. So many different POV characters. As a technique, it had potential to Rashomon the plot forward by playing with narrator perspectives. Instead the execution made the narrative choppy and disconnected, with short chapters that rarely fleshed out the characters.

And finally, I hated everything about the ending. The last 20-25% of the story just sealed the one-star deal for me. I won't say too much to avoid spoilers, but I think there's at least one aspect of the horrible ending I can touch upon without giving much away. Think My So Called Life. A fantastic show, except for that one Christmas episode with Juliana Hatfield playing a homeless angel, wondering around singing and raising awareness. Or Pose, another phenomenal show, albeit there's that second season episode where the ghost of a deceased character is flitting around her own funeral interacting with all the mourners. Why include things like this when there haven't been any another supernatural element prior to, or proceeding, that one random time? My nerdiness runs too deep to tolerate these crimes against internal consistency.

That's that. Thanks for traversing realities with me. I guess there's a comfort in knowing both my selves were equally dissatisfied. Although is this a supportable conclusion? Would Alternative Me like this book because he's had differing life experiences? Can we be that different yet still be Us? Can you tell I watched season 2 of Fringe before writing this review?

I’m so conflicted by this novel. On one hand it is lyrically stunning. This book is so beautifully written that I wanted to slow down and savor it. The religious undertones were brilliant. On the other hand, I just lost interest about half way through. I’m not sure if it was the amount of characters, the likability of the characters or the switching of perspective. At times I wanted more dialogue than was offered. I so wanted to love this one, but something about it did not connect for me. I will give a fair warning that if you do read this one, it is a difficult read.