All the Blood Is Red

by Leone Ross

Elles sont femmes, d'origine jamaïcaine ; Blacks dans un monde de Blancs, à Londres. Elles affrontent leurs démons intérieurs et la violence du dehors. Portrait d'un quatuor.

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leone Ross does an amazing job of writing very strong and diverse characters and I really enjoyed being in the world she created.

[2TReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hooked from start to finish. It's the way Ross kept my mind turning, guessing, and marveling at how she wrote these 4 distinct women who were joined by threads of vulnerability and strength.

The women in Ross' story all have a particular yearning and though their experiences are different, what makes their situations familiar is the time, place, and interactions they have and endure as Black women.

They are all brilliant, vulnerable, motivated, spirited, brash, contemplative, and all are carrying a secret of which they are either ashamed or have no desire to face and acknowledge the role those secrets play on their respective friendships and relationships.

With this novel, Ross explores power, control, toxicity, and the role of patriarchal religion in keeping individual mentalities in a society locked in harmful stereotypes and expectations. She takes us through the different ways in which men and women interact and enter into relationships with each other, what each is seeking from the other, and the ways in which these relationships can devolve.

I could not help but reflect on how present mentalities about and around women's bodies remain the same, how even in the face of movements to bring attention to how men harm and destroy, there are still persons, including women, who uphold the despicable pillars that foster mistrust and hate.

[☆ piupiu ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

with the books i read i thought i’d become somewhat desensitised to reading about certain topics, but then i read a book like this and the feeling is so visceral i feel the disgust down to my bones and in the pit of my stomach the entire time.

this was deeply moving, heartbreaking, and a little bit terrifying because even though you know exactly where it’s headed you still hope to outrun it– “please don’t let these women go through what i know they’re about to go through because it happens to us all and none of us can outrun it but we still hope none of us has to face it anyway” is basically the little prayer i said to myself going from chapter to chapter.

something i really, really appreciated about the women in this book is that you may not like all of them, you might disagree with them, completely hate them, wish they were better to themselves or to each other, and that still doesn’t change a thing. the characters themselves struggle with not being the perfect victim and they struggle with the next woman not being the perfect victim either.

“she did everything wrong, that’s why it happened to her. i did everything right, why did it happen to me?" because it was never about your choices, your choices make you human. it’s only about stripping you of your humanity and exerting power by making sure your choices don’t matter– it could always happen to you, and that has nothing to do with you.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

[Karen Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this before publication.
All the Blood is Red is a slow starter. We focus on four different women, in different stages of life, and it’s quite hard to develop much understanding of them initially as we keep shifting focus. However, as the book progresses it was definitely a book that had me keen to keep reading to see how things developed.
The book explores the womens’ feelings about identity, race and the experiences they face. There was a grim feeling as we headed towards the key moments for each of the characters. I felt a mix of anger and frustration at the way things panned out. Not an easy read, but definitely an interesting one.

[Milly Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not an easy read at times and its subject matter is very hard hitting. The beginning, for me, was a slow burn but when it got into the heart of things - I was glad of the slow build up. We have 4 Black women, Nicola, Alexandra and Jeanette in the present and then we have the pov of Mavis - written in her Jamaican dialect - who I couldn’t, in the beginning, tie down. Where was she speaking from? But everything becomes apparent later on. Turning to the other 3, Nicola is an actress in a relationship with Julius, the white director of the play that she is in. Alex, a successful journalist, has just started a role as a researcher for TV company and is suffering from a break-up. These two are close friends and then Jeanette arrives as a house mate. She is very different. She is not promiscuous, but she has a very different attitude towards sex. Then a serious sexual assault occurs and these women’s lives are changed. We are in 1996 before the advent of the social media frenzy that is prevalent now and so stories were in the press rather than one the phone. And what Leone ross focuses on is the way that perceptions change. None of these three wowen are perfect - each is flawed in her own way - but does/should that make a difference when an assault happens. The spotlight is upon the public’s views of sexuality, promiscuity and power and the reactions to the assault are awful. The criticism and the victim blaming and the way that violence is just dismissed as irrelevant. And there is not only the reaction to the assault that we are being made to view - we have horrendous sexual harassment in the workplace, the shaming of Nicola for being in an inter-racial relationship. We are made to look at the powerlessness of women who are strong and confident in their own fields. As I said this is not an easy read at times - it covers rape, abuse and control. It might be set in 1996 but these issues are just as relevant now. An excellent read even if it is uncomfortable at times.

[Frances Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Blood is Red is a slow-burning, emotionally rich novel that took time for me to settle into, but once I did, it delivered a deep exploration of Black womanhood, power, and pain. At first, the shifting perspectives between four different women made it a little difficult to connect, but gradually, each voice grows more defined and urgent.

The women Ross writes are complex—brilliant, vulnerable, multi-layered and strong. Their experiences are unique, yet bound by a shared context: the intersecting weight of race, gender, history, and place.

Ross doesn't shy away from difficult topics—rape, abuse, interracial relationships, and the way society views and polices women’s bodies. Through this, she interrogates power, control, and the toxic effects of patriarchal religion. What emerges is a sobering reminder of how entrenched these dynamics still are, and how often women—sometimes unknowingly—reinforce the very systems that harm them.

This is not an easy read, nor is it meant to be. But it's a bold, necessary one. Thoughtful, unsettling, and beautifully written.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

[Haxxunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult and complex read
—
Nicole and Alexandrea are friends, their careers in different strata but their friendship never in question. When they move into a new house, they need a third flatmate and they offer the room to Jeanette, who’s outspoken and unapologetic about how she dresses, how she acts. When Jeanette gets sexually assaulted, Nicole and Alexandrea’s reactions test who they are and how they see themselves and Jeanette.

It’s difficult to not reveal this major plot twist in a review because that’s what the book’s about: who do we blame? Should the victim have policed herself in what she wore, how she acted, when her assailant is someone close to her? It’s a difficult book, because no-one is purely good or bad in the book, not even the assailant, at least, not until the assault. How Jeanette is treated by Nicole and Alexandrea is the heart of the book, with a hopeful ending that demonstrates that life moves on and people have to live with their choices.

Three and a half stars

[Martina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that, at times, the book came across as both contemporary and dated. Certain aspects of the story and specific characterisation led me to question how the narrative moves these conversations forward. Conversely, other elements, such as the identification and shielding of perpetrators under the guise of racial solidarity, felt very timely. However, the treatment of interracial relationships left much to be desired. Even if Nicola had not interrogated the reasons behind her choices, her naivety feels somewhat far-fetched. She would have been aware of the wider discourse, just as she had clearly not considered the consequences of going public with Julius. Her reluctance to enter the “swirl” debate would not have shielded her from such knowledge.

In terms of structure, Mavis’ point of view initially feels quite disconnected from the other three women and, at times, seemed to stifle the flow of the surrounding chapters, particularly as Jeanette enters the physical orbit of Nicola and Alex. However, this connection does eventually come to fruition in a very pertinent way: a reflection on the influences that shape us and the generational curses which can plague future generations where the work hasn’t been done to unlearn harmful patterns of belief. To the extent that she is able to watch her daughter get assaulted and, in her twisted righteousness, believes it is what her daughter deserves.

At points, it felt as though too much was happening, with the focus spread too wide in terms of both themes and the inclusion of auxiliary characters. This meant certain areas were not as fully developed as they could have been. There were specific themes I would have liked the author to explore further, such as misogynoir and the particular dynamics that enabled these women to be victimised, often not just by men, but by “their own”.

The book is set in 1996, which in part contributed to the sense of it feeling dated. These are conversations for today, yet they are placed in a time that no longer exists, before mobile phones and social media. The reality of Nicola, Alexandra and Jeanette’s ordeal almost feels merciful in its pre-social media setting and before the rise of the manosphere.

This book captures a staunch refusal to acknowledge power dynamics, and where those dynamics are recognised, it reveals women’s feelings of powerlessness to challenge them. Alex is an irredeemable character: she not only slut-shames and victim-blames, but in her eyes, Jeanette must be held personally accountable for “her part” in her assault. All the while, Alex herself is being harassed by her superior at work, leading her into a spiral of alcoholism, yet she still manages to separate herself morally from Jeanette. It would be one thing if she were genuinely pious or prudish, but her disdain for Jeanette stems entirely from her own projected abandonment issues. She fears losing Nicola to Jeanette, and her possessiveness emboldens her to voice the most despicable rhetoric. So much so, it is a man who ultimately puts her in her place. This was an interesting choice.

Overall, this is a book that raises pertinent issues. However, I felt it didn’t explore them with the depth I would have liked. 2.75

[Dieuwke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The impending sense of doom is there right from the beginning, so why -WHY- were the characters not what I expected? They ought to have been perfect, surely? They aren't, the three women are flawed human beings, trying to live their lives, trying to make it, trying to navigate careers and trying to be good friends to each other. I'll admit to wanting to give up on the book because (don't know why) but then I didn't and I'm "glad" I read on.

The women all have to fight to exist and to keep their life and limbs intact.
"she was asking for it" and "she did nothing wrong" in one novel to show it wasn't her, it was him.


I received a copy from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion

[Jillian Woodthorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gut wrenching read. I couldn’t put it down despite the overwhelming sadness endured by the women in the story.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This certainly held my attention, and stirred up many of the expected emotions, as experienced by other reviewers.
But I did have trouble with the passages in Jamaican. I found both the italic font and the dialect a struggle to read, and although I see it's important for the story line, it detracted from the pleasure somewhat for me.

[Millie Brazil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do I love reading stories that make me feel like I’m being punched in the stomach over and over? Who’s to say but it seems to happen a lot

[Ria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a copy of this through Netgalley.
I loved Mavis's POV and the authors decision to write her POV the way Mavis's would say them. I have never so clearly heard a characters voice before so thankyou for bring Mavis to life.
I also liked that the author did not shy away from very sensitive topics such as inter-racial relationships, abuse of women, rape and how the female body is viewed by society.
Unfortunately I felt that the first 50% of this book was boring except for Mavis's POV and a few sections that i felt gave the characters layers and more human. However, around the 50% mark i felt this book picked up and I began to fly through it because I wanted to see how things would turn out.