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Grace
For a runaway slave in the 1840s south, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic Massa. That’s what fifteen-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal confines of life on an Alabama plantation. Striking out on her own, she must leave behind her beloved Momma and sister Hazel and takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a freewheeling, gun-toting Jewish madam named Cynthia. There, amidst a revolving door of gamblers, prostitutes, and drunks, Naomi falls into a star-crossed love affair with a smooth-talking white man named Jeremy who frequents the brothel’s dice tables all too often.
The product of this union is Josey, whose white skin and blonde hair mark her as different from the other slave children on the plantation. Having been taken in as an infant by a free slave named Charles, Josey has never known her mother, who was murdered at her birth.
Deftly weaving together the stories of Josey and Naomi—who narrates the entire novel unable to leave her daughter alone in the land of the living—Grace is a sweeping, intergenerational saga featuring a group of outcast women during one of the most compelling eras in American history.
The product of this union is Josey, whose white skin and blonde hair mark her as different from the other slave children on the plantation. Having been taken in as an infant by a free slave named Charles, Josey has never known her mother, who was murdered at her birth.
Deftly weaving together the stories of Josey and Naomi—who narrates the entire novel unable to leave her daughter alone in the land of the living—Grace is a sweeping, intergenerational saga featuring a group of outcast women during one of the most compelling eras in American history.
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 2016
363 people are currently reading
10995 people want to read
About the author
Natashia Deón
4 books332 followersNatashia Deón is a 2017 NAACP Image Award Nominee and author of the critically-acclaimed novel, Grace (Counterpoint Press), which was awarded the 2017 First Novel Prize by the American Library Association's Black Caucus (BCALA), was named Kirkus Review Best Book of 2016, a New York Times Top Book 2016, a Book Riot Favorite Book of 2016, The Root Best Book of 2016, and an Entropy Magazine Best Book of 2016.
In 2017, she served as a U.S. delegate to Armenia in partnership with the University of Iowa's International Writing Workshop (IWP) and the U.S. State Department for Between the Lines, a program bringing international writers together.
Her writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, Buzzfeed, LA Review of Books, The Rumpus, The Feminist Wire, Asian American Lit Review, Rattling Wall and other places.
A practicing attorney, law professor, and creator of the popular L.A.-based reading series Dirty Laundry Lit , Deón is the recipient of a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship, and has been awarded fellowships and residencies at Yale, Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, Prague's Creative Writing Program, Dickinson House in Belgium, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside--Palm Desert.
In 2017, she served as a U.S. delegate to Armenia in partnership with the University of Iowa's International Writing Workshop (IWP) and the U.S. State Department for Between the Lines, a program bringing international writers together.
Her writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, Buzzfeed, LA Review of Books, The Rumpus, The Feminist Wire, Asian American Lit Review, Rattling Wall and other places.
A practicing attorney, law professor, and creator of the popular L.A.-based reading series Dirty Laundry Lit , Deón is the recipient of a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship, and has been awarded fellowships and residencies at Yale, Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, Prague's Creative Writing Program, Dickinson House in Belgium, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside--Palm Desert.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 488 reviews
February 24, 2017
Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
It is 1838 and Naomi is a slave girl living on a plantation in Faunsdale, Alabama, until a terrifying incident sends her running for her life. She arrives in Georgia and finds shelter in a brothel where she falls for a white man. The result of their secret love is Josey, a baby girl of mixed blood with blonde hair. Josey is a young woman when word of the Emancipation Proclamation reaches her hometown of Tallahassee, Alabama. But though freedom is within reach, unexpected events threaten to stop her and everyone she loves from knowing a life free from servitude.
Grace is an intergenerational saga that opens with one of the most compelling introductions yet encountered. After reading the first page, it's impossible to turn away. Readers soon find themselves drawn into a tense narrative liable to make one's stomach turn. By the end of the first chapter, reading the rest of the book is inevitable.
It was the first time a man lied for me. It was the familiar ring of a lifesaving untruth. A death rattle that has followed me all my life.
Naomi is a flawless narrator. Her voice is authentic and, despite the hardships she endures and the horrors she bears witness to, she harbors an ardent view of the world.
Since me and Hazel had our birthday four months ago and I turned fifteen, I started to notice thangs. Like how every spring the musty smell of grass and dew warmed by the sun clogs my nose and makes me sneeze. And how the cotton fields throw small balls in the air and twirl 'em around in the wind. The boys trample 'em under their feet and the girls make doll babies with 'em. Sometimes I imagine the cotton pieces are alive 'cause of how they chase me.
Through Naomi's narrative voice, the author finds clever ways to rephrase the ordinary, creating lyrical depictions with few words:
[He] went up the steps to greet her, and the whiskey on him turned the air drunk.
[She] patters her foot below the hem of her blue satin gown making the fabric bounce and the light reflect off of its sewn-on silver flakes, spitting sparkle.
Strong women are prevalent throughout this book, as are the valuable life lessons they are willing to impart.
I say, "Not every woman got the same strong. "
"What'd you say?"
"Your momma had the strong to give birth to you, to raise you, to put the strength inside you to do something she never could. Maybe she couldn't be your strong. In the end, you saved yourself."
Chapters switch between Naomi (told in first perfect narrative) and Josey (as told from Naomi's perspective). A perfect harmony is found in balancing their two stories.
Love and sacrifice are at the heart of this gritty yet rich story of persistent women defying the odds. Grace is transcendent.
It is 1838 and Naomi is a slave girl living on a plantation in Faunsdale, Alabama, until a terrifying incident sends her running for her life. She arrives in Georgia and finds shelter in a brothel where she falls for a white man. The result of their secret love is Josey, a baby girl of mixed blood with blonde hair. Josey is a young woman when word of the Emancipation Proclamation reaches her hometown of Tallahassee, Alabama. But though freedom is within reach, unexpected events threaten to stop her and everyone she loves from knowing a life free from servitude.
Grace is an intergenerational saga that opens with one of the most compelling introductions yet encountered. After reading the first page, it's impossible to turn away. Readers soon find themselves drawn into a tense narrative liable to make one's stomach turn. By the end of the first chapter, reading the rest of the book is inevitable.
It was the first time a man lied for me. It was the familiar ring of a lifesaving untruth. A death rattle that has followed me all my life.
Naomi is a flawless narrator. Her voice is authentic and, despite the hardships she endures and the horrors she bears witness to, she harbors an ardent view of the world.
Since me and Hazel had our birthday four months ago and I turned fifteen, I started to notice thangs. Like how every spring the musty smell of grass and dew warmed by the sun clogs my nose and makes me sneeze. And how the cotton fields throw small balls in the air and twirl 'em around in the wind. The boys trample 'em under their feet and the girls make doll babies with 'em. Sometimes I imagine the cotton pieces are alive 'cause of how they chase me.
Through Naomi's narrative voice, the author finds clever ways to rephrase the ordinary, creating lyrical depictions with few words:
[He] went up the steps to greet her, and the whiskey on him turned the air drunk.
[She] patters her foot below the hem of her blue satin gown making the fabric bounce and the light reflect off of its sewn-on silver flakes, spitting sparkle.
Strong women are prevalent throughout this book, as are the valuable life lessons they are willing to impart.
I say, "Not every woman got the same strong. "
"What'd you say?"
"Your momma had the strong to give birth to you, to raise you, to put the strength inside you to do something she never could. Maybe she couldn't be your strong. In the end, you saved yourself."
Chapters switch between Naomi (told in first perfect narrative) and Josey (as told from Naomi's perspective). A perfect harmony is found in balancing their two stories.
Love and sacrifice are at the heart of this gritty yet rich story of persistent women defying the odds. Grace is transcendent.
May 19, 2017
4.5 Stars
“The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It's there I will go
Sooner or later.”
Up to the Mountain--Patricia J. Griffin
This multigenerational family saga weaves back and forth through time and place, between the stories of Naomi, a slave girl who begins life on a plantation in Faunsdale, Alabama, and Josey, Josephine, beginning in the year 1838, through Conyers, Georgia and Tallassee, Alabama in the year 1850.
Naomi, seven years old, and Hazel, eleven on her last birthday, are sisters, but Naomi is a secret kept. An early birth that has gone by without being added to the rolls of recorded births. Inventory.
Naomi’s father was a tenant farmer, Hazel’s father was the former Boss, but it never affects their close bond, they have their Momma and each other. Time passes, and soon – too soon – Naomi is fifteen, and Hazel is nineteen and in love.
In the blink of an eye, Naomi’s world changes and she finds herself on the run with no choice but to continue running until she’s as far away from Faunsdale as she can get, heading North. Following the North Star to the promise of a better future. She walks four days, makes it as far as Georgia before she succumbs to the stabbing icy rain, the lack of shoes or food. When she wakes, she is in the home of the woman who saw her fall. Time passes with Naomi in and out of a fog.
Naomi’s narration has an air of wistfulness, veneration for life and motherhood, projecting the eternal nature of man toward love, even among the seemingly endless expressions of hate.
”Where do we start when we tell the stories of our loved ones? … I guess I could start with who begot who like the Bible do, but where somebody comes from only matters to people who come from something and as it was, she came from me.”
Naomi’s hovering, recalling the past years of her life, and watching over Josey through all the years of Josey’s life. These memories come to her in flashes, and they are shared with us the same way, as they come to her.
“I meant to leave that first night I was killed, wanted to go and find my own Momma since we was both dead. Had said my good-bye to living but it’s hard to leave when the person you saying by to is still talking back. My baby was my hesitation.
There were things I still needed to tell her.
That she’s beautiful. That she’s loved. That there’s a God who loves her.
That there’s me.
But I cain’t tell Josey none of that now. All I have is this.”
Love, sacrifice, family, gender, race, slavery, authority and control, strength and, perhaps, most of all grace are the heart and soul of this story of the human experience in another time of inhumane cruelty. ”Grace” is inspirational, moving, heartbreaking, with prose overflowing with both the strength and grace of a poet.
Recommended
“The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It's there I will go
Sooner or later.”
Up to the Mountain--Patricia J. Griffin
This multigenerational family saga weaves back and forth through time and place, between the stories of Naomi, a slave girl who begins life on a plantation in Faunsdale, Alabama, and Josey, Josephine, beginning in the year 1838, through Conyers, Georgia and Tallassee, Alabama in the year 1850.
Naomi, seven years old, and Hazel, eleven on her last birthday, are sisters, but Naomi is a secret kept. An early birth that has gone by without being added to the rolls of recorded births. Inventory.
Naomi’s father was a tenant farmer, Hazel’s father was the former Boss, but it never affects their close bond, they have their Momma and each other. Time passes, and soon – too soon – Naomi is fifteen, and Hazel is nineteen and in love.
In the blink of an eye, Naomi’s world changes and she finds herself on the run with no choice but to continue running until she’s as far away from Faunsdale as she can get, heading North. Following the North Star to the promise of a better future. She walks four days, makes it as far as Georgia before she succumbs to the stabbing icy rain, the lack of shoes or food. When she wakes, she is in the home of the woman who saw her fall. Time passes with Naomi in and out of a fog.
Naomi’s narration has an air of wistfulness, veneration for life and motherhood, projecting the eternal nature of man toward love, even among the seemingly endless expressions of hate.
”Where do we start when we tell the stories of our loved ones? … I guess I could start with who begot who like the Bible do, but where somebody comes from only matters to people who come from something and as it was, she came from me.”
Naomi’s hovering, recalling the past years of her life, and watching over Josey through all the years of Josey’s life. These memories come to her in flashes, and they are shared with us the same way, as they come to her.
“I meant to leave that first night I was killed, wanted to go and find my own Momma since we was both dead. Had said my good-bye to living but it’s hard to leave when the person you saying by to is still talking back. My baby was my hesitation.
There were things I still needed to tell her.
That she’s beautiful. That she’s loved. That there’s a God who loves her.
That there’s me.
But I cain’t tell Josey none of that now. All I have is this.”
Love, sacrifice, family, gender, race, slavery, authority and control, strength and, perhaps, most of all grace are the heart and soul of this story of the human experience in another time of inhumane cruelty. ”Grace” is inspirational, moving, heartbreaking, with prose overflowing with both the strength and grace of a poet.
Recommended
March 15, 2019
“I AM DEAD...
I died a nigga a long time ago.
Before you were born, before your mother was born, ‘fore your grandmother.
I was 17.
Still am, I reckon. And everyone that was there that night is dead now, too, so it don’t matter that I was a nigga.
Or a slave.
What matters is I had a daughter, who had daughters, and they had theirs. Family I could’ve saved a whole lot of trouble by tellin ‘em the things that I know.
But there are some stories that mothers never tell their daughters—secret stories.
Stories that would prove a mother was once young, done thangs with men she could never tell, in ways she could never tell, and places she should never. Private stories we are in love, ‘semblance of love, would lead a person like me to the place I was that night in 1848.
When I died”.
“For two days and two nights we been running.
Me, and a child inside me”.
Naomi, a slave, 15 years old, in the 1840’s, escapes the brutal life on the Alabama plantation run by a sadistic Massa. Running for her life was just as dangerous.
Naomi takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a Jewish madam, (who carries a pistol). She falls hard into a love affair, and becomes pregnant from, Jeremy, a white man.
Josey, was born with white skin and blonde hair.....then gets taken away by a free slave. Naomi was murdered seconds after Josey’s birth.
WOW WOW WOW.....as in ***WOW*!!!.... The characters - storytelling - plot - history are all amazing in equal amounts.
This novel is entrancing.... mesmerizing.... just SO POWERFULLY GOOD! All the historical-universal themes are there: Love, freedom, motherhood, race, ..... including the dark sides: prostitution, gambling, murder, rape, and fighting for survival.
When Emancipation Proclamation happens for Josey... rather than be a celebration for freedom it turns into horrific violence. It’s a day that will define Josey and her loss mother, Naomi forever.
I bought this Hardcopy three years ago at the Bay Area Book Festival. It’s a gorgeous book. I treasure it more now than when I bought it. One of the best Historical fiction books I’ve read in a long time.
OUTSTANDING STRONG CHARACTERS....RIVETING SUSPENSE....& RUTHLESS BRAVERY!!!
I also added the Audiobook. Its one of the best audiobook voices I’ve heard.
Read by Lisa Renee Pitts.
INCREDIBLE.... almost hard to describe the way Lisa Renee Pitts reads this book. Very powerful - we feel the intensity… as if we are there.
Honesty ... this is a phenomenal debut novel.......a tribute to the ghosts that haunt our American History.
“We are all born empty....
Got a empty place inside us that needs to be filled and refilled by something new.
And if you believe as I believe, it’s the seat of God. Love. But for these needy bodies, almost anything will do”.
I died a nigga a long time ago.
Before you were born, before your mother was born, ‘fore your grandmother.
I was 17.
Still am, I reckon. And everyone that was there that night is dead now, too, so it don’t matter that I was a nigga.
Or a slave.
What matters is I had a daughter, who had daughters, and they had theirs. Family I could’ve saved a whole lot of trouble by tellin ‘em the things that I know.
But there are some stories that mothers never tell their daughters—secret stories.
Stories that would prove a mother was once young, done thangs with men she could never tell, in ways she could never tell, and places she should never. Private stories we are in love, ‘semblance of love, would lead a person like me to the place I was that night in 1848.
When I died”.
“For two days and two nights we been running.
Me, and a child inside me”.
Naomi, a slave, 15 years old, in the 1840’s, escapes the brutal life on the Alabama plantation run by a sadistic Massa. Running for her life was just as dangerous.
Naomi takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a Jewish madam, (who carries a pistol). She falls hard into a love affair, and becomes pregnant from, Jeremy, a white man.
Josey, was born with white skin and blonde hair.....then gets taken away by a free slave. Naomi was murdered seconds after Josey’s birth.
WOW WOW WOW.....as in ***WOW*!!!.... The characters - storytelling - plot - history are all amazing in equal amounts.
This novel is entrancing.... mesmerizing.... just SO POWERFULLY GOOD! All the historical-universal themes are there: Love, freedom, motherhood, race, ..... including the dark sides: prostitution, gambling, murder, rape, and fighting for survival.
When Emancipation Proclamation happens for Josey... rather than be a celebration for freedom it turns into horrific violence. It’s a day that will define Josey and her loss mother, Naomi forever.
I bought this Hardcopy three years ago at the Bay Area Book Festival. It’s a gorgeous book. I treasure it more now than when I bought it. One of the best Historical fiction books I’ve read in a long time.
OUTSTANDING STRONG CHARACTERS....RIVETING SUSPENSE....& RUTHLESS BRAVERY!!!
I also added the Audiobook. Its one of the best audiobook voices I’ve heard.
Read by Lisa Renee Pitts.
INCREDIBLE.... almost hard to describe the way Lisa Renee Pitts reads this book. Very powerful - we feel the intensity… as if we are there.
Honesty ... this is a phenomenal debut novel.......a tribute to the ghosts that haunt our American History.
“We are all born empty....
Got a empty place inside us that needs to be filled and refilled by something new.
And if you believe as I believe, it’s the seat of God. Love. But for these needy bodies, almost anything will do”.
March 12, 2018
Novels about slavery are never easy reads, but they remind us of the strength and determination of the human spirit. I adored so many of these characters and their stories will stay with me. I was a lil worried with part of Naomi’s narrative being told in ghost/spirit form, but I grew used to it. In the end it told a story that would’ve otherwise been missed. Southern and historical fiction lovers should place this novel at the forefront of their reading lists. 5+ stars.
June 21, 2016
Oh, I wish there was a rating above 5..Could I give this a 10? I loved, loved,loved this book. I have really enjoyed a lot of books recently but none that have pulled me in so deeply,made me care for the characters so intensely or riveted my soul to a story so powerfully.It is so hard to believe that this is her debut novel..
Grace begins with a murder on an Alabama plantation. I hate to say much more because I don't want to give away any spoilers. Suffice it to say that the story takes place over 30 years, up to the years after the Civil War. How justice, mercy and grace unfold, woven into the plight of women's inferior status make this a book of both fury and tribulations..If only my heart could handle I would read this again..
Grace begins with a murder on an Alabama plantation. I hate to say much more because I don't want to give away any spoilers. Suffice it to say that the story takes place over 30 years, up to the years after the Civil War. How justice, mercy and grace unfold, woven into the plight of women's inferior status make this a book of both fury and tribulations..If only my heart could handle I would read this again..
May 20, 2017
There's a blurb on the back of this novel from Rebecca Solnit that is absolutely appropriate for it: "People will compare this book to 'Twelve Years a Slave', 'Cold Mountain', and 'Beloved', and those are fair comparisons for the kind of time and place here, and the evocation of the South 150 years ago. But reading it, I thought of murder ballads, those songs of melancholy and injustice. Natashia Deón's genius lies, in part, in writing a book that sustains a murder ballad's intensity for hundreds of pages and gets into your bones like a song." That is so much the feeling I got when reading this book that I almost can't believe it.
If you are a fan of any of those books named above, read this one. If you're not a fan of any of them, read this one anyway. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, as it's entirely heartbreaking, but Deón's skill as a writer is unparalleled. I was floored to see that this is her first novel, because story to her seems to come as natural as breathing. It's an intergenerational family saga of black women in the Civil War South, their courage, their tragedies, and their convictions, written in dialect. I'm fairly surprised it's not as well-known as something like Yaa Gyasi's "Homegoing" given how superb it is.
I don't want to say too much about plot for fear of giving anything away (the Goodreads description should tell you enough to see if you want to try this for yourself), but I recommend it to everyone. I've read a lot of books I've loved, but only a few I have given the designation of also being "important". This book joins Nadia Hashimi's "The Pearl That Broke Its Shell" as one of the most powerful, moving, important books I've read all year.
If you are a fan of any of those books named above, read this one. If you're not a fan of any of them, read this one anyway. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, as it's entirely heartbreaking, but Deón's skill as a writer is unparalleled. I was floored to see that this is her first novel, because story to her seems to come as natural as breathing. It's an intergenerational family saga of black women in the Civil War South, their courage, their tragedies, and their convictions, written in dialect. I'm fairly surprised it's not as well-known as something like Yaa Gyasi's "Homegoing" given how superb it is.
I don't want to say too much about plot for fear of giving anything away (the Goodreads description should tell you enough to see if you want to try this for yourself), but I recommend it to everyone. I've read a lot of books I've loved, but only a few I have given the designation of also being "important". This book joins Nadia Hashimi's "The Pearl That Broke Its Shell" as one of the most powerful, moving, important books I've read all year.
November 8, 2017
Given this book's current popular appeal, and the high ratings it has received from Goodreads friends whose opinions I respect, I don't want to give this 2 Stars without also providing some explanation. I run the risk of being labeled "hard to please" or "never satisfied"; certainly I am legitimately accused of being very analytic and detail-oriented. So be it. However I find myself especially frustrated when a book with great ideas and lots of potential fails largely because of sloppy content and poor internal validity. "Grace: A Novel" is a good example.
Others have generally criticized this novel for three reasons: The perpetually foul-mouthed dialogue, the back-and-forth plot development, and the violence that permeates it from start to finish. For the record none of these things put me off. I did find that many of the profanities were not in use during the time in which this tale is set (1838-1869) and that rankles. "Bumfucker", "tits", and "pussy" were not used in American language in this manner until the 1960s, 1928, and 1878, respectively. (I'm also pretty sure men did not say "Fuck me!" 170 years ago when they were irritated.). How do I know? Because I did a little research. It didn't take long. And, while I may not be entirely correct in all specifics, I seem to have done a bit more critical thinking than Ms. Deon or her "exceptional editor, Dan Smetanka". Once I noticed these jarring inconsistencies, others began to surface with exasperating regularity. My initial leanings toward a 4 Star rating ultimately became a more reliable form of historical fiction than this book.
I did not keep track of every instance of Alternative Fact, just those which were very clearly incorrect and therefore cheapened my experience. These won't disturb many readers but, had I known about them in advance, I would not have chosen to read this. They form a sad trail which leads from shaky ground to literary fault line. Veracity and trustworthiness in this text slowly vanish and are replaced by whatever must make for interesting moments in a screenplay. But this is not a screenplay (although I learned later it began as one); this is a publication Counterpoint Press advertise as a book. In that regard, I am less impressed.
It's best if I just list some examples of what bothered me. Consider this my feeble attempt at keeping belabored whining to a minimum.
Nobody in the antebellum South said "been there, done that..." This appears to have bubbled up in the 1970s.
The term "flatbread" was not coined until Gladys Ford made such a product in Waitsfield, Vermont, half a century later. And no Mexican-American was describing their tortillas as "flatbread" in 1849.
Folks were neither doing nor decribing "the splits" back then, either, although Can-Can dancers were performing such moves and calling them by other names. But not in Conyers, Georgia, or Tallasee, Alabama.
There was no Scotch whiskey to speak of in the Deep South, and definitely no highly-prized Talisker stashed in slaves' quarters in 1848. American Bourbon was the rage and had been since the Revolutionary War. No company was importing liquor from Scotland through Civil War blockades. Talisker did build its first distillary in Scotland in 1831 but was apparently a failure at quality whiskey-making. So just about everything related to this plot detail is bunk.
Women did not wear "blouses" or refer to them at the time of the novel because no such garment existed with that name (outside peasant villages in France) until long after this story ends.
Households did not collect their refuse in "trash-bags" which were then tied up and hauled outside. And they did not throw out "napkins" left after a party as these were not disposable items. These would generally have been laundered and pressed. I did learn that paper was burned in the fireplace or woodstove, old garments and cloth that could not be rejuvenated were sold to the rag man, food items were composted or slopped for animals, and every other kind of garbage was thrown into the outhouse or a landfill site.
"Rigamortis" is urban slang for getting an erection or being super down and out emotionally; "Rigor mortis" is what one actually calls the muscle-stiffening that develops hours after death.
Albert continually refers to the unborn Josey as "she" and "her" even though nobody knows the sex of the baby and Naomi never describes having a sense of whether she is carrying a boy or girl. The reader has known for hundreds of pages, of course, but not the characters.
Finally, the Deus ex machina appearance of Bobby Lee on his high horse to save the day did not work for me. Until that point I do think Deon successfully avoided the siren call of inserting moments of crazy coincidence in order to make her story "interesting", so I do want to give credit where it is due. Even so this particular plot twist beggared belief.
Colson Whitehead's "Underground Railroad" manages to blend fanatasy with fact, history with fiction, in ways I found illuminating, enchanting, and revelational. With a more critical eye - and markedly better editing support - this could have been a much stronger novel. Natashia Deon seems to have very good instincts, remarkable imagination, an obvious devotion to her characters, and a drive to succeed as a writer. She has things to say and stories to tell. She has talent. I'd love to see what she can do with more reliable, objective, trustworthy guides at her disposal.
Others have generally criticized this novel for three reasons: The perpetually foul-mouthed dialogue, the back-and-forth plot development, and the violence that permeates it from start to finish. For the record none of these things put me off. I did find that many of the profanities were not in use during the time in which this tale is set (1838-1869) and that rankles. "Bumfucker", "tits", and "pussy" were not used in American language in this manner until the 1960s, 1928, and 1878, respectively. (I'm also pretty sure men did not say "Fuck me!" 170 years ago when they were irritated.). How do I know? Because I did a little research. It didn't take long. And, while I may not be entirely correct in all specifics, I seem to have done a bit more critical thinking than Ms. Deon or her "exceptional editor, Dan Smetanka". Once I noticed these jarring inconsistencies, others began to surface with exasperating regularity. My initial leanings toward a 4 Star rating ultimately became a more reliable form of historical fiction than this book.
I did not keep track of every instance of Alternative Fact, just those which were very clearly incorrect and therefore cheapened my experience. These won't disturb many readers but, had I known about them in advance, I would not have chosen to read this. They form a sad trail which leads from shaky ground to literary fault line. Veracity and trustworthiness in this text slowly vanish and are replaced by whatever must make for interesting moments in a screenplay. But this is not a screenplay (although I learned later it began as one); this is a publication Counterpoint Press advertise as a book. In that regard, I am less impressed.
It's best if I just list some examples of what bothered me. Consider this my feeble attempt at keeping belabored whining to a minimum.
Nobody in the antebellum South said "been there, done that..." This appears to have bubbled up in the 1970s.
The term "flatbread" was not coined until Gladys Ford made such a product in Waitsfield, Vermont, half a century later. And no Mexican-American was describing their tortillas as "flatbread" in 1849.
Folks were neither doing nor decribing "the splits" back then, either, although Can-Can dancers were performing such moves and calling them by other names. But not in Conyers, Georgia, or Tallasee, Alabama.
There was no Scotch whiskey to speak of in the Deep South, and definitely no highly-prized Talisker stashed in slaves' quarters in 1848. American Bourbon was the rage and had been since the Revolutionary War. No company was importing liquor from Scotland through Civil War blockades. Talisker did build its first distillary in Scotland in 1831 but was apparently a failure at quality whiskey-making. So just about everything related to this plot detail is bunk.
Women did not wear "blouses" or refer to them at the time of the novel because no such garment existed with that name (outside peasant villages in France) until long after this story ends.
Households did not collect their refuse in "trash-bags" which were then tied up and hauled outside. And they did not throw out "napkins" left after a party as these were not disposable items. These would generally have been laundered and pressed. I did learn that paper was burned in the fireplace or woodstove, old garments and cloth that could not be rejuvenated were sold to the rag man, food items were composted or slopped for animals, and every other kind of garbage was thrown into the outhouse or a landfill site.
"Rigamortis" is urban slang for getting an erection or being super down and out emotionally; "Rigor mortis" is what one actually calls the muscle-stiffening that develops hours after death.
Albert continually refers to the unborn Josey as "she" and "her" even though nobody knows the sex of the baby and Naomi never describes having a sense of whether she is carrying a boy or girl. The reader has known for hundreds of pages, of course, but not the characters.
Finally, the Deus ex machina appearance of Bobby Lee on his high horse to save the day did not work for me. Until that point I do think Deon successfully avoided the siren call of inserting moments of crazy coincidence in order to make her story "interesting", so I do want to give credit where it is due. Even so this particular plot twist beggared belief.
Colson Whitehead's "Underground Railroad" manages to blend fanatasy with fact, history with fiction, in ways I found illuminating, enchanting, and revelational. With a more critical eye - and markedly better editing support - this could have been a much stronger novel. Natashia Deon seems to have very good instincts, remarkable imagination, an obvious devotion to her characters, and a drive to succeed as a writer. She has things to say and stories to tell. She has talent. I'd love to see what she can do with more reliable, objective, trustworthy guides at her disposal.
June 1, 2017
This is 3.5 star. The only reason I can't round it up was this. For me, I consistently was pulled out of the chronology of the story and narrator identity question to the point that I could not connote. There was a section, nearly exactly in the middle which became so confusing to me that after a reread, I still couldn't place it and so soldiered on.
The beginning was stunning. And carries the intense violence that so much of the remaining placements also evidence. And the ending was breath-holding too. So I do understand and I did get full cognition for the "voice" of the presence who is like the title suggests a "grace" unseen but in full activation.
My problem with a book that has these many characters and in which so many of them are either violently evil or despicably duplicitous is that the level of numbing disconnection occurs. For most people it is nearly the opposite. But in this case, some of these characters! Like Cynthia, for instance. Not that a crazy Jewish Madam and prostitute would be unheard of in the antebellum South- but I never really "got" any of her motivations. All kinds of issues like that one. These characters seem extreme of the extreme. And the horrors of the slavery system very real too. So one doesn't particularly equate to the other. Hard to explain. But all of it felt in the middle half, more like a puzzle I needed to constantly figure out than a tale I could encompass within.
Strong women indeed. And the language was authentic and above the bar for written expression.
The "eyes" of the overseeing narrator was extremely original and a 5 star technique to equate the precise feelings or sufferings. It was a way to convey connection within the women's personalities. That was awesome in its application. But with all the time switching, I couldn't grab continuity for it.
This is not a fun book to read. It's horror in treatment and outcomes. Its violence quotient overwhelmed me at times. And in large sections depicts terrible and supreme and repeating degradation. Way too real in the observation of suffering to say it was enjoyment in the reading of it.
This book gives men, all around as a group, very few tolerable qualities. And there were a few times that I was taken aback at a spot of revisionist "thought". For instance, one of our strong protagonists noted that the clothes for women in that heat were entrapment devised by men and their onus. I could be wrong, but I don't believe slaves or plantation mistresses (either)would connote that way in 1847 or 1862.
Gird your loins for pain if you want to immerse in this era Alabama.
The beginning was stunning. And carries the intense violence that so much of the remaining placements also evidence. And the ending was breath-holding too. So I do understand and I did get full cognition for the "voice" of the presence who is like the title suggests a "grace" unseen but in full activation.
My problem with a book that has these many characters and in which so many of them are either violently evil or despicably duplicitous is that the level of numbing disconnection occurs. For most people it is nearly the opposite. But in this case, some of these characters! Like Cynthia, for instance. Not that a crazy Jewish Madam and prostitute would be unheard of in the antebellum South- but I never really "got" any of her motivations. All kinds of issues like that one. These characters seem extreme of the extreme. And the horrors of the slavery system very real too. So one doesn't particularly equate to the other. Hard to explain. But all of it felt in the middle half, more like a puzzle I needed to constantly figure out than a tale I could encompass within.
Strong women indeed. And the language was authentic and above the bar for written expression.
The "eyes" of the overseeing narrator was extremely original and a 5 star technique to equate the precise feelings or sufferings. It was a way to convey connection within the women's personalities. That was awesome in its application. But with all the time switching, I couldn't grab continuity for it.
This is not a fun book to read. It's horror in treatment and outcomes. Its violence quotient overwhelmed me at times. And in large sections depicts terrible and supreme and repeating degradation. Way too real in the observation of suffering to say it was enjoyment in the reading of it.
This book gives men, all around as a group, very few tolerable qualities. And there were a few times that I was taken aback at a spot of revisionist "thought". For instance, one of our strong protagonists noted that the clothes for women in that heat were entrapment devised by men and their onus. I could be wrong, but I don't believe slaves or plantation mistresses (either)would connote that way in 1847 or 1862.
Gird your loins for pain if you want to immerse in this era Alabama.
July 10, 2016
Wow. Powerfully rendered. More to come............
Wow. Wow. Superbly written and emotionally jarring. I can't say enough great things about this book. It is a novel that is definitely worth reading. The story is told from the perspective of Naomi who narrates the story both as living being then as ancestral spirit. At first, I didn't think this narrative device would work, however Natashia Deon pulled it off in tremendous fashion. As I was reading the book , I was thinking that this would make a great movie because her scene descriptions are so vivid. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that originally she wrote this story as a screenplay. The horrific circumstances that black women had to live under during slavery serves as the foundation of this novel and you will be drawn into the feelings of Naomi and then her daughter Josey as Naomi watches over her from beyond the world of the living.
"'Bessie,'Annie calls to a dark-skinned field negro she’s trying to train to be light. Light, ’cause most housework done by the offspring of the raped: mixed-raced and birthed out of broken wombs. “Bessie,” Annie say again, this time with her voice raised. She steps in front of Bessie and puts her hand near Bessie’s neck. The touching makes Bessie shiver like a wet dog, drenched—a common condition for older slaves that Annie buys new. They must have never been shown mercy." It is this type of prose that really makes the reader feel the characters.
Not only is the feeling authentic, there are nuggets of wisdom weaved into the story and though the novel stretches over a number of years the reader will never feel disconnected. "It's been said that justice is getting what you deserve. And mercy is not getting the bad you deserve. Grace is getting a good thing, even when you don't deserve it. So if I would've named my good thing, I'd have called her Grace. But someone else named her Josephine." That comes from spirit Naomi narrating about the flashes she experiences.
This is the kind of book that will have readers reflecting on the knowledge they have, or lack thereof, about the terror of a woman's life lived under slavery, both official and outlawed. The violence, ever present, the lack of ownership of one's own body. The vessel for all kinds of deviant thoughts, from white men. Ms. Deon will make you feel all of that, and if you are not touched, you need to check your pulse. There is no way you leave this book without feeling something.
As an addendum, I have noticed the novel "Homegoing" being hailed as one of the best books this year and it is already appearing on many best lists and being widely promoted and deemed a must read. I read it, thought it was good and gave it four stars. However, this Grace doesn't take a backseat to that book and if you read both of these novels, you will understand how and why certain books get pushed as best this, must read, etc., while other books languish in search of readers. Read it and share it!
Wow. Wow. Superbly written and emotionally jarring. I can't say enough great things about this book. It is a novel that is definitely worth reading. The story is told from the perspective of Naomi who narrates the story both as living being then as ancestral spirit. At first, I didn't think this narrative device would work, however Natashia Deon pulled it off in tremendous fashion. As I was reading the book , I was thinking that this would make a great movie because her scene descriptions are so vivid. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that originally she wrote this story as a screenplay. The horrific circumstances that black women had to live under during slavery serves as the foundation of this novel and you will be drawn into the feelings of Naomi and then her daughter Josey as Naomi watches over her from beyond the world of the living.
"'Bessie,'Annie calls to a dark-skinned field negro she’s trying to train to be light. Light, ’cause most housework done by the offspring of the raped: mixed-raced and birthed out of broken wombs. “Bessie,” Annie say again, this time with her voice raised. She steps in front of Bessie and puts her hand near Bessie’s neck. The touching makes Bessie shiver like a wet dog, drenched—a common condition for older slaves that Annie buys new. They must have never been shown mercy." It is this type of prose that really makes the reader feel the characters.
Not only is the feeling authentic, there are nuggets of wisdom weaved into the story and though the novel stretches over a number of years the reader will never feel disconnected. "It's been said that justice is getting what you deserve. And mercy is not getting the bad you deserve. Grace is getting a good thing, even when you don't deserve it. So if I would've named my good thing, I'd have called her Grace. But someone else named her Josephine." That comes from spirit Naomi narrating about the flashes she experiences.
This is the kind of book that will have readers reflecting on the knowledge they have, or lack thereof, about the terror of a woman's life lived under slavery, both official and outlawed. The violence, ever present, the lack of ownership of one's own body. The vessel for all kinds of deviant thoughts, from white men. Ms. Deon will make you feel all of that, and if you are not touched, you need to check your pulse. There is no way you leave this book without feeling something.
As an addendum, I have noticed the novel "Homegoing" being hailed as one of the best books this year and it is already appearing on many best lists and being widely promoted and deemed a must read. I read it, thought it was good and gave it four stars. However, this Grace doesn't take a backseat to that book and if you read both of these novels, you will understand how and why certain books get pushed as best this, must read, etc., while other books languish in search of readers. Read it and share it!
March 26, 2017
“Justice is getting what you deserve. And mercy is not getting the bad you deserve. Grace is getting a good thing, even when you don’t deserve it.”
Grace is an emotionally gripping novel. Set in the antebellum South through the Civil War and the early days of emancipation, it touches on the woman as captive. Not just in the literal sense but in the figurative sense as well. Though the novel focuses on the narrator Naomi and her daughter, Cynthia, the Jewish madam and Annie, the abandoned wife of a plantation owner also have their own crosses to bear.
“We’re all born empty. Got an empty place inside us that needs to be filled by something real. And if you believe as I believe, it’s the seat of God. Love. God is love. But for these needy bodies, almost anything will do.”
A poetic tribute with many rich layers of meaning, Grace is narrated by the spirit of Naomi. Using this literary device, the novel is told in flashes over the course of both Naomi’s life and memorable, if sometimes, horrific moments of Josey’s.
“Some say your life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die . . . It’s more than just seeing the moment, it’s taking part in the memory as if it were happening again. And when you in the flash, you don’t even know that what you’re seeing is from a time already gone. You get lost in it.”
And lost in Deon’s lyrical prose you do. It is easy to get swept away into this story. I found it hard to put the book down even for moments at a time. Truly an original voice, Deon captures the time period but makes the story timeless in a way that resounds with the reader. It is hard to reconcile why Grace hasn’t earned more critical acclaim. A definite must read.
March 26, 2019
Grace is about two strong women, mother and daughter, separated by time and place. It is a gracefully written, suspenseful novel about Naomi's life as a slave, her escape, her return as a ghost and her daughter Josie's life, before and after the Emancipation Proclamation. Deon's skillful writing makes the ghost narrator work. I listened to the audiobook was which beautifully narrated.
February 10, 2017
Gut wrenchingly emotional and beautifully written. Deon has blown me away. Review to come.
March 21, 2017
This book is excellent and I feel like there aren’t enough people talking about how good it is. The main character is Naomi, a slave in the South in the mid-1800s. The book begins with Naomi’s murder, hours after she’s given birth to a child. Naomi dies that night, but she doesn’t quite move on. Instead, she reflects on her experiences before her death, and those of her daughter after her death.
Deon wrote this story beautifully and Naomi was such a rich character. She has a heartbreaking life. I think the idea of having a dead narrator could easily go wrong, but it works really well in this novel. The helplessness and lack of control that Naomi experiences in her life is also reflected after her death. As she watches over her daughter, she wants to care and intervene for her, but she can’t.
This is an important story that’s beautifully written. Y’all should read this one!
Deon wrote this story beautifully and Naomi was such a rich character. She has a heartbreaking life. I think the idea of having a dead narrator could easily go wrong, but it works really well in this novel. The helplessness and lack of control that Naomi experiences in her life is also reflected after her death. As she watches over her daughter, she wants to care and intervene for her, but she can’t.
This is an important story that’s beautifully written. Y’all should read this one!
December 28, 2017
I am on the fence about this book. Lots of beautiful prose and an interesting premise about a young runaway slave, Naomi, who finds a new home in a brothel run by an eccentric unstable white woman. Naomi is killed after giving birth to Josey, a very light baby, who upon her mother’s death, is passed around on a plantation, from the owners who initially want to raise her as their own because they think she is white, to a Black male slave who becomes her “father”.
There were lots of beautiful passages, and the story was different from anything I’ve read about slavery, especially once you read of how and why Naomi ran away to the brothel (no spoilers here but it’s not something that can be easily figured out, and it’s somewhat badass). And I think that is the strongest selling point of this book outside of the beautiful cover: it tells a very uncommon and unconventional story based in slavery.
But there are huge issues with this novel that made it hard for me to enjoy. The story is told in alternating time periods: one chapter is Naomi’s story of running away and piecing together a life within the brothel and among the crazy characters who frequent the neighboring saloon. The next chapter is Naomi, as a ghost/spirit, following Josey as she grows up and deals with her own tragedy and misfortune as a result of plantation life during the Civil War. Both stories were riveting but I couldn’t understand why the author told them through alternating chapters when it could have easily been told chronologically. It was confusing, especially with the narrator jumping from “real time” to “spirit time”. The continued switching consistently threw me out of the story and in some parts, made me angry because it did nothing to enhance the reader's experience. Also, the two stories were so different that they could have almost been two entirely different novels. And having half of it told by a main character after she’d been killed was an odd storytelling device that could have fared better with an explanation.
The novel also did not feel like historical fiction. From the dialogue, especially the cursing, to how the story progressed, I didn’t feel immersed in the time period. Outside of being reminded by dates and the treatment of women and Black people, this felt like a modern story.
Due to the alternating stories, there were two endings and both were suspenseful, heart wrenching, and true page turners. These riveting endings kinda made up for the issues that I had with earlier parts of the book, but not enough to give it a high rating. I hovered between 2.5 and 3 stars, and decided to round up to 3 because I love the cover.
This is not your typical novel about slavery, so if you're looking for something different, and you don't mind alternating story lines that throw you in and out of the story, you might want to give this one a try.
There were lots of beautiful passages, and the story was different from anything I’ve read about slavery, especially once you read of how and why Naomi ran away to the brothel (no spoilers here but it’s not something that can be easily figured out, and it’s somewhat badass). And I think that is the strongest selling point of this book outside of the beautiful cover: it tells a very uncommon and unconventional story based in slavery.
But there are huge issues with this novel that made it hard for me to enjoy. The story is told in alternating time periods: one chapter is Naomi’s story of running away and piecing together a life within the brothel and among the crazy characters who frequent the neighboring saloon. The next chapter is Naomi, as a ghost/spirit, following Josey as she grows up and deals with her own tragedy and misfortune as a result of plantation life during the Civil War. Both stories were riveting but I couldn’t understand why the author told them through alternating chapters when it could have easily been told chronologically. It was confusing, especially with the narrator jumping from “real time” to “spirit time”. The continued switching consistently threw me out of the story and in some parts, made me angry because it did nothing to enhance the reader's experience. Also, the two stories were so different that they could have almost been two entirely different novels. And having half of it told by a main character after she’d been killed was an odd storytelling device that could have fared better with an explanation.
The novel also did not feel like historical fiction. From the dialogue, especially the cursing, to how the story progressed, I didn’t feel immersed in the time period. Outside of being reminded by dates and the treatment of women and Black people, this felt like a modern story.
Due to the alternating stories, there were two endings and both were suspenseful, heart wrenching, and true page turners. These riveting endings kinda made up for the issues that I had with earlier parts of the book, but not enough to give it a high rating. I hovered between 2.5 and 3 stars, and decided to round up to 3 because I love the cover.
This is not your typical novel about slavery, so if you're looking for something different, and you don't mind alternating story lines that throw you in and out of the story, you might want to give this one a try.
March 1, 2021
AMAZING STORY NARRATED BY A GHOST
I read this book in it's entirety in less than 36 hours, all 400 pages! Naomi's born a slave but when a situation occurs that puts her life in jeopardy she runs for her life leaving the only family she has, a sister and mother behind. Her adrenaline carries her across state lines in the rain and circumstances result in her being discovered by a Jewish madam, Cynthia, who rescues her from likely death in a swamp. They have a very unlikely friendship and wouldn't you know, they end up being mistreated by the same white man. We know very little about the ill-fated romance from Cynthia but Naomi's romance cause many people to be quite unhappy in the community for various and sundry reasons in the late 1840's Conyers, GA.
Deon takes us on a 3o year journey where being beautiful and attractive to white men is a blessing and a great curse. Woman are jealous and men are, well we know what men are... Naomi doesn't bring these situations on herself, nor does her gorgeous 3/4 Caucasian daughter bearing blond hair and blue eyes seek to do anything but live a simple life with family. The one-drop rule is certainly an issue, whenever it suits a particular person and there are certain deviants who act above the law, when there is no one to hold them accountable.
Ms. Deon has delivered a spellbinding tale, rich with interesting characters and intriguing situations, set across the backdrop of pre and post Civil War south. This story surely deserves more attention than what it has received thus far but as Hollywood has already taken notice of her talents, I am certain there is even more to come!
I read this book in it's entirety in less than 36 hours, all 400 pages! Naomi's born a slave but when a situation occurs that puts her life in jeopardy she runs for her life leaving the only family she has, a sister and mother behind. Her adrenaline carries her across state lines in the rain and circumstances result in her being discovered by a Jewish madam, Cynthia, who rescues her from likely death in a swamp. They have a very unlikely friendship and wouldn't you know, they end up being mistreated by the same white man. We know very little about the ill-fated romance from Cynthia but Naomi's romance cause many people to be quite unhappy in the community for various and sundry reasons in the late 1840's Conyers, GA.
Deon takes us on a 3o year journey where being beautiful and attractive to white men is a blessing and a great curse. Woman are jealous and men are, well we know what men are... Naomi doesn't bring these situations on herself, nor does her gorgeous 3/4 Caucasian daughter bearing blond hair and blue eyes seek to do anything but live a simple life with family. The one-drop rule is certainly an issue, whenever it suits a particular person and there are certain deviants who act above the law, when there is no one to hold them accountable.
Ms. Deon has delivered a spellbinding tale, rich with interesting characters and intriguing situations, set across the backdrop of pre and post Civil War south. This story surely deserves more attention than what it has received thus far but as Hollywood has already taken notice of her talents, I am certain there is even more to come!
June 28, 2016
I binge read Grace. Couldn't stop reading late into the night. One more chapter, I kept saying to myself and didn't turn off the light and go to bed. From the first few pages until the end—and what an end—I was captivated by the pervasive and immediate danger for women and girls in the antebellum South. I quickly dropped my notion that the people in the novel, mostly female, would be entirely different than me. So many of their thoughts and problems, and especially their relationships to one another, are like my own. The writing is gorgeous, rendering Alabama, Georgia and the time period in such detail that I felt immersed into this landscape, this world. It's full of love and beauty and humor. Yesterday, as I drove to an appointment, I caught myself wondering about these folks. What has become of the little ones? Do they still live in the South? Who are their new loved ones? What do they know of their grandmother?
July 31, 2016
What to say? I had to read "Grace: A Novel" in one sitting. Not only because I couldn't put it down, but because the characters couldn't put their lives down and I felt like I had to stay with them until the end. Not sure how else to explain it. Beautifully written, compelling, but a hard, emotional read. Be prepared to have this story sit with you long after the last page.
July 6, 2016
Worth way more than 5 stars. This is one of the best books I have ever read.
May 14, 2017
This is the BEST novel that I've read this year! My God! This gripped me from the first to the last word. There are so many reveiws that will give you the run down of the plot and all that jazz. I'm speaking from my heart. This, my friends, is going to be a classic. I borrowed this copy from my local library, and cannot wait to add it to my collection by purchasing my own. The bravery in this book! The injustice! The characters!!! This was gorgeous and intense! I was squeezing my ass cheeks together in the final stretch!! Lolol Natasha Deon!!!!! You did that girl...... I bow my head gracefully to you.
June 2, 2018
DNF at 171 pages. My expectations were too high going into this book. I was super thrilled about a ghost narrating the story, but all that meant at almost halfway was we got one first person perspective and one third person perspective. A lost opportunity to explore aspects only a ghost could bring to a story. I didn't feel connected to the characters as individuals. It felt like a very standard slave narrative that ticked off the boxes of horrible things done to slaves. I'm not intrigued enough with the mysteryish parts to continue on. I'm super bummed. I thought I'd love this.
July 30, 2016
Yes, this is a book about slavery, about the south, leading up to and through the Civil War, but it is more about the enduring spirit of women, especially the bond between mothers and daughters. The rich scenery and dialogue add to the incredible journey of the women in the story - their strength, their determination and their spirit.
February 8, 2020
This book is worth every moment I gave this book (5+hrs). I need more folks to read this. 😩
February 8, 2017
This book is a killer. It will haunt me forever as the legacies of slavery, genocide and colonialism haunt us all. Narrated by a ghost, Grace takes up deep into the South and reveals brutal truths. It's a tough read. Don't even get me started on the writing - it's sublime. It deserves way more attention that it's received.
July 12, 2017
This is not a book that you will love or hate; It is a book that will effect you to your core. It is disturbing and unimaginable what you will read on the pages of Grace. I constantly asked myself how people could treat other people this way. I am ashamed and saddened by the events within this book that are the history of our great nation.
Thank you Goodreads for a copy of the book.
Thank you Goodreads for a copy of the book.
May 13, 2017
I loved this novel. It is an example of what a female author can accomplish when she allows herself to write truly from her own heart and vision.
I was already in ghost story mode from reading White Tears just before it. In Grace, the ghost who narrates the tale is the mother of the main character, Grace. Both are slaves. The ghost narrator's mother was also a slave upon whom her master kept producing babies as a way to get more slaves without having to pay for them. Except the woman kept having daughters when he wanted males for the fields.
Thus we get the stories of three generations of slave women, of murder and mayhem, of desperate escapes towards freedom. I guess I have read enough slave narratives now to have become somewhat inured to the abuse and violence that come with the institution. The key to this novel is the unending strength of a mother's love for her children. Without sentimentality, Natashia Deon plums all the conflicting emotions and deeds done under the almost mystical connection a mother has with her offspring.
This is a story of the heart complete with all the blood, pain, labor, and mistakes a mother can make. It is a story of the mind and all the conundrums of how to best rear and protect, especially daughters who are bound to become mothers themselves. Of course, ultimately it is an historical story of the suffering of females and slaves. There are also some wonderful male characters to counter-balance the depravity of the typical Southern "gentlemen" of the era.
I listened to an interview with the author on the Other People podcast http://otherppl.com/natashia-deon-int.... She is a native of Los Angeles, her father was a cop, and she had amazing stories to tell about her life. She is also a Christian with the kind of deep faith I can respect. The line from the novel that moved me the most was, "There is no justice. There is only grace."
For fans of Toni Morrison, and I am one of them, it is as if she has a literary daughter whose name is Natashia Deon. In my opinion, Grace should have been a huge bestseller last year. There is no justice. It must have been grace that led me to such a wonderful novel.
August 5, 2017
Finished and I am both emotionally exhausted and spiritually uplifted!
The backdrop of this story is mainly during the 1840's, in the south, amidst slavery, the Civil War, and its aftermath. There was quite a host of characters and many mini storylines. At times, it was a little challenging for me to keep track of who was who. However, Natasha Deon did not leave any stones unturned as she penned each character's life, both prominent and brief.
The main character, however, was a runaway slave woman named Naomi and the story is told by alternating chapters of her voice and those of the other characters.
At times this book was just heart wrenching as the author presented some of the horrors of slave life and I was tempted to stop reading. However, I forced myself to push through and continue reading because, as devastating as it is to read, this was the reality of my ancestors and it's important for us acknowledge this time in the history of our country.
Ultimately, this book is about incredible bravery and unconditional love and commitment.
4.5 Stars, bumped up to 5 because of the author's apparent herculean work in creating this story. Highly recommended.
The backdrop of this story is mainly during the 1840's, in the south, amidst slavery, the Civil War, and its aftermath. There was quite a host of characters and many mini storylines. At times, it was a little challenging for me to keep track of who was who. However, Natasha Deon did not leave any stones unturned as she penned each character's life, both prominent and brief.
The main character, however, was a runaway slave woman named Naomi and the story is told by alternating chapters of her voice and those of the other characters.
At times this book was just heart wrenching as the author presented some of the horrors of slave life and I was tempted to stop reading. However, I forced myself to push through and continue reading because, as devastating as it is to read, this was the reality of my ancestors and it's important for us acknowledge this time in the history of our country.
Ultimately, this book is about incredible bravery and unconditional love and commitment.
4.5 Stars, bumped up to 5 because of the author's apparent herculean work in creating this story. Highly recommended.
September 9, 2016
Just WOW! One of those "what did I just read". And this is a debut novel. Incredible
Sometimes a book stays with me for a while. And this is why.
"If I could talk to Josey, I'd tell her to always enjoy the present. To live in it. I'd tell her about love, too. I'd tell her the love she has for this boy, she'll feel again. I'd tell her about real love. Tell her to not be fooled by what feels real. Tell her to get married like I never could. Tell her to marry someone who's kind. I'd tell her to make herself kinder by learning to care for people with bad attitudes and nothing to offer 'cause the kindness she measures to others will be measured back to her. I'd tell her that in the end, we'll all need somebody to take care of us, if we live long enough. If we get old. That's when it'll matter most. When we're living the consequences of our old yeses and nos. And if you're lucky, I'd tell her, your caregiver will be your own spouse because you'd have paid for that privilege with your commitment. And if not your husband, let it be someone you love and loves you.
Sometimes a book stays with me for a while. And this is why.
"If I could talk to Josey, I'd tell her to always enjoy the present. To live in it. I'd tell her about love, too. I'd tell her the love she has for this boy, she'll feel again. I'd tell her about real love. Tell her to not be fooled by what feels real. Tell her to get married like I never could. Tell her to marry someone who's kind. I'd tell her to make herself kinder by learning to care for people with bad attitudes and nothing to offer 'cause the kindness she measures to others will be measured back to her. I'd tell her that in the end, we'll all need somebody to take care of us, if we live long enough. If we get old. That's when it'll matter most. When we're living the consequences of our old yeses and nos. And if you're lucky, I'd tell her, your caregiver will be your own spouse because you'd have paid for that privilege with your commitment. And if not your husband, let it be someone you love and loves you.
March 31, 2020
“Not every woman got the same strong.”
Have you ever read a book that gives some sort of closure but at the same time, you feel as if there is no happy ending? This is Grace! Grave is a book that outlines generations of power from women. Women born into slavery but have silently found ways to prevail! It starts with Nioami, an innocent child who watched her mother please the master so that she would not be touched. Young and on the run, Nioami’s innocence leads her down the path of heartache and pregnancy. As a ghost, she watches her “white” daughter who endures rape and eternal suffering. But Josey finds her strength and gives birth to a beautiful boy and a daughter who she saved from having the same fate as her.
This is a book where men are in the background and women both Black and White find a way to break through and somehow, support each other. During the times of war and Slavery, we watch “freedom” still go unrecognized but the fight continues!
I did not get the happy ending I wanted from this book but the strength of women is much more.
Have you ever read a book that gives some sort of closure but at the same time, you feel as if there is no happy ending? This is Grace! Grave is a book that outlines generations of power from women. Women born into slavery but have silently found ways to prevail! It starts with Nioami, an innocent child who watched her mother please the master so that she would not be touched. Young and on the run, Nioami’s innocence leads her down the path of heartache and pregnancy. As a ghost, she watches her “white” daughter who endures rape and eternal suffering. But Josey finds her strength and gives birth to a beautiful boy and a daughter who she saved from having the same fate as her.
This is a book where men are in the background and women both Black and White find a way to break through and somehow, support each other. During the times of war and Slavery, we watch “freedom” still go unrecognized but the fight continues!
I did not get the happy ending I wanted from this book but the strength of women is much more.
July 21, 2017
I feel certain that I would have done better with this book if I'd read it instead of listening. It's one those novels, not uncommon, that change from one narrator to another and you can only tell it's happening by blank lines at the change. Readers of audio books have no way to indicate this, I guess. So I was confused until I realized who the narrators were and that were only two.
It's a marvelous novel that grows and grows with interesting characters, including a spirit who narrates part of the story. This book just gets better, no fizzling out at the end here!
I appreciate that I've never read a story like this. Learning that it was about slaves at the time they were supposed to be freed, I expected certain things and I was wrong. The story is fresh and fulfilling .
It's a marvelous novel that grows and grows with interesting characters, including a spirit who narrates part of the story. This book just gets better, no fizzling out at the end here!
I appreciate that I've never read a story like this. Learning that it was about slaves at the time they were supposed to be freed, I expected certain things and I was wrong. The story is fresh and fulfilling .
November 12, 2017
This is a civil war era novel about slavery and a mother’s bond to her child beyond life. But two of my favorite books lately (ever?!) were on the same subject: Underground Railroad and Lincoln in the Bardo - Lincoln was about other things, but there was also a similar afterlife character to this book as well.
Rough start with the audio version but things improved when I️ switched to print. There is a lot of time jumping, and POV switching. I️ need to see those rather than listen.
We had a great, but highly critical discussion with my book group. And I️ may have liked it the most. But I agree with my fellow critics/members. Does everything have to happen to these poor women and men... but mostly women? Every awful thing you’ve ever read about slavery is here. And then more.
I️ am overwhelmed by the sadness of what happened then and am still saddened by our country now.
Rough start with the audio version but things improved when I️ switched to print. There is a lot of time jumping, and POV switching. I️ need to see those rather than listen.
We had a great, but highly critical discussion with my book group. And I️ may have liked it the most. But I agree with my fellow critics/members. Does everything have to happen to these poor women and men... but mostly women? Every awful thing you’ve ever read about slavery is here. And then more.
I️ am overwhelmed by the sadness of what happened then and am still saddened by our country now.
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