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Pomegranate
A gripping and powerful novel of healing, redemption, and love, following a queer Black woman who works to stay clean, pull her life together, and heal after being released from prison.
Ranita Atwater is “getting short.”
She is almost done with her four-year sentence for opiate possession at Oak Hills Correctional Center. With three years of sobriety, she is determined to stay clean and regain custody of her two children.
My name is Ranita, and I’m an addict, she has said again and again at recovery meetings. But who else is she? Who might she choose to become? As she claims the story housed within her pomegranate-like heart, she is determined to confront the weight of the past and discover what might lie beyond mere survival.
Ranita is regaining her freedom, but she’s leaving behind her lover Maxine, who has inspired her to imagine herself and the world differently. Now she must steer clear of the temptations that have pulled her down, while atoning for her missteps and facing old wounds. With a fierce, smart, and sometimes funny voice, Ranita reveals how rocky and winding the path to wellness is for a Black woman, even as she draws on family, memory, faith, and love in order to choose life.
Perfect or fans of Jesmyn Ward and Yaa Gyasi, Pomegranate is a complex portrayal of queer Black womanhood and marginalization in America: a story of loss, healing, redemption, and strength. In lyrical and precise prose, Helen Elaine Lee paints a humane and unflinching portrait of the devastating effects of incarceration and addiction, and of one woman’s determination to tell her story.
Ranita Atwater is “getting short.”
She is almost done with her four-year sentence for opiate possession at Oak Hills Correctional Center. With three years of sobriety, she is determined to stay clean and regain custody of her two children.
My name is Ranita, and I’m an addict, she has said again and again at recovery meetings. But who else is she? Who might she choose to become? As she claims the story housed within her pomegranate-like heart, she is determined to confront the weight of the past and discover what might lie beyond mere survival.
Ranita is regaining her freedom, but she’s leaving behind her lover Maxine, who has inspired her to imagine herself and the world differently. Now she must steer clear of the temptations that have pulled her down, while atoning for her missteps and facing old wounds. With a fierce, smart, and sometimes funny voice, Ranita reveals how rocky and winding the path to wellness is for a Black woman, even as she draws on family, memory, faith, and love in order to choose life.
Perfect or fans of Jesmyn Ward and Yaa Gyasi, Pomegranate is a complex portrayal of queer Black womanhood and marginalization in America: a story of loss, healing, redemption, and strength. In lyrical and precise prose, Helen Elaine Lee paints a humane and unflinching portrait of the devastating effects of incarceration and addiction, and of one woman’s determination to tell her story.
351 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2023
569 people are currently reading
23491 people want to read
About the author
Helen Elaine Lee
5 books82 followersHelen Elaine Lee grew up in Detroit, Michigan and she is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Her first novel, The Serpent's Gift, was published by Atheneum and her second novel, Water Marked, was published by Scribner. Helen was on the board of PEN New England for 10 years, and she served on its Freedom to Write Committee and volunteered with its Prison Creative Writing Program, which she helped to start. She is Professor of Comparative Media Studies/Writing at MIT.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 550 reviews
July 11, 2023
they say don't judge a book by its cover, and yet doing that with this one got me a read that's nice inside and out.
another loss for cliché users out there.
this book, which ambitiously covers topics like the prison system, addiction, sexuality, parenthood, and atonement, does so simply but effectively. as someone who likes a lot of the action in my reading to happen behind the scenes and between the lines, if you will, it wasn't quite my cup of tea at points, but it was well done all the same!!!
bottom line: not my perfect book, but a good one.
thanks to the publisher for the copy / 3.5
another loss for cliché users out there.
this book, which ambitiously covers topics like the prison system, addiction, sexuality, parenthood, and atonement, does so simply but effectively. as someone who likes a lot of the action in my reading to happen behind the scenes and between the lines, if you will, it wasn't quite my cup of tea at points, but it was well done all the same!!!
bottom line: not my perfect book, but a good one.
thanks to the publisher for the copy / 3.5
July 29, 2023
I think this book did a great job of addressing themes related to incarceration, intergenerational trauma, and wounds related to substance use. I liked the emphasis on healing and how the protagonist’s journey through therapy wasn’t linear and wasn’t always easy, though over time she expressed and understood more of herself. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the writing style in Pomegranate - for some reason it felt a bit dragging to me. Beautiful cover though and beautiful story, even if I didn’t love the story’s delivery.
May 10, 2023
Thank you to the author Helen Elaine Lee, publishers Atria Books and Simon & Schuster, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of POMEGRANATE.
Ranita finally makes it through her prison sentence, and keeps working her program. She gets released and returns home to family that loves her no matter what. But she misses her kids. She wants to make it up to them, once parole gives her access. She wants a job. Wants a drink. But she doesn't take the drink.... and takes the first job she's offered. She's going somewhere, but the past wants to take her there, and for now it's the only vehicle she knows.
I really love Ranita. As the protagonist of this story about prison, addiction, and recovery, I connect deeply with her. Not because I've shared all these experiences, but because I connect with them, the way Lee writes about them. This alone would have carried me through this one, especially with the beautiful writing, but the story is also ultimately sweet, as suggested, perhaps, by the title and cover. One particular theme was very interesting to me, that of the role of trauma at the root of addiction and disordered psyche.
Please consider this my trigger warning for violence against children and women, child SA, SA, prison, intoxication.
I think "Pomegranate" is the perfect title and metaphorical descriptor for this unlikely and inspiring hero.
Rating:🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒 / 5 Black Cherries
Recommend? Yes, but trigger warnings
Finished: May 5 20 2023
Format: Digital
Read this if you like:
🌄 Redemption stories
🏥 Stories about recovery
👧🏽 Diverse voices and stories
👤 Mental health rep
Ranita finally makes it through her prison sentence, and keeps working her program. She gets released and returns home to family that loves her no matter what. But she misses her kids. She wants to make it up to them, once parole gives her access. She wants a job. Wants a drink. But she doesn't take the drink.... and takes the first job she's offered. She's going somewhere, but the past wants to take her there, and for now it's the only vehicle she knows.
I really love Ranita. As the protagonist of this story about prison, addiction, and recovery, I connect deeply with her. Not because I've shared all these experiences, but because I connect with them, the way Lee writes about them. This alone would have carried me through this one, especially with the beautiful writing, but the story is also ultimately sweet, as suggested, perhaps, by the title and cover. One particular theme was very interesting to me, that of the role of trauma at the root of addiction and disordered psyche.
Please consider this my trigger warning for violence against children and women, child SA, SA, prison, intoxication.
I think "Pomegranate" is the perfect title and metaphorical descriptor for this unlikely and inspiring hero.
Rating:🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒 / 5 Black Cherries
Recommend? Yes, but trigger warnings
Finished: May 5 20 2023
Format: Digital
Read this if you like:
🌄 Redemption stories
🏥 Stories about recovery
👧🏽 Diverse voices and stories
👤 Mental health rep
June 21, 2023
After a 5-star dry spell, I wish I could award 6 or 7 or 8 stars to this novel! I loved it. Like the fruit of its title, this story is deceptively simple on the surface and complexly beautiful on the inside. It’s best handled with patience and enjoyed with abandon. (OK, I’m not as good with the analogy as Helen Elaine Lee, but trust me, it works.)
To be completely honest I chose this from the Goodreads list of LGBTQ fiction for the month of June. I didn’t even realize I was going to get such a stark story of loss, recovery and redemptions. Fair warning, this book is brutally honest about abuse, drug use (emotional and physical), imprisonment and grief. Ranita’s story, told in both present day and flashback is not easy so Lee’s ability to make her a sympathetic character and voice is all the more brilliant. She tackles the inequities and merciless nature of the “justice” system with a clear lens but never in a way that interferes with the heart of her book.
Truly, this book is all heart. I could not help but root for Ranita and cheer her road to redemption while I forgave her missteps. Lee does a masterful job of unveiling her story layer by layer so by the time I came to the last 100 pages, I could not put it down. I didn’t want to say goodbye when it was over. This is the kind of novel that reminds me of the power and importance of fiction - a subject about which Ranita feels passionate.
I really can’t say it any better than the author.
To be completely honest I chose this from the Goodreads list of LGBTQ fiction for the month of June. I didn’t even realize I was going to get such a stark story of loss, recovery and redemptions. Fair warning, this book is brutally honest about abuse, drug use (emotional and physical), imprisonment and grief. Ranita’s story, told in both present day and flashback is not easy so Lee’s ability to make her a sympathetic character and voice is all the more brilliant. She tackles the inequities and merciless nature of the “justice” system with a clear lens but never in a way that interferes with the heart of her book.
They could feel the inside wounds, the tally kept from the punishments, the things they had been named & deemed, the ways they had tried & fallen short. From the poisons in their blood & lungs that had seemed like liberation. From the ones who broke & entered, using kinship and prayer as passwords. From the daily wound of being reckoned less than human, the toll of being thrown away like trash."
Truly, this book is all heart. I could not help but root for Ranita and cheer her road to redemption while I forgave her missteps. Lee does a masterful job of unveiling her story layer by layer so by the time I came to the last 100 pages, I could not put it down. I didn’t want to say goodbye when it was over. This is the kind of novel that reminds me of the power and importance of fiction - a subject about which Ranita feels passionate.
People like to think fiction’s less serious than other kinds of writing, and I’m here to tell you it can make the real more bearable. But that doesn’t make it escapist. Or flimsy. And I don’t think novels and stories just give you a picture, like a photo with words. They comment. They speculate. And the making up and rearranging of the facts are about showing what is true and what has been. And what could be."
I really can’t say it any better than the author.
February 23, 2025
This book felt like it was important to read. It leans into some awful stereotypes that seem to make up what the general public holds of Black families: drug addiction, broken families, incarceration. But it also examines one woman's life to take these stereotypes and examines why they might exist and to turn the stereotypes upside down. By getting the reader to empathize with Renita, we get to see the components of the stereotypes, break them down, and see Ranita as a whole person instead of just a generalization. I thought this was brilliantly done.
I also really loved her relationship with Drew Turner, her therapist. I'm told by Black friends that therapy is so taboo within their culture, but I know from personal experience how helpful a good therapist can be. So I was really glad to see Lee use Turner as a great plot device to unravel Ranita's story.
This is the story of a woman who wants to be someone she can be proud of, someone her kids can depend on, someone who can navigate sobriety, and someone who is loved and accepted for who she is just as she is, and we have the privilege of witnessing her self-actualization. It's a hard to read story, but it's one full of beauty and hope.
4.5, rounding up to 5.
I also really loved her relationship with Drew Turner, her therapist. I'm told by Black friends that therapy is so taboo within their culture, but I know from personal experience how helpful a good therapist can be. So I was really glad to see Lee use Turner as a great plot device to unravel Ranita's story.
This is the story of a woman who wants to be someone she can be proud of, someone her kids can depend on, someone who can navigate sobriety, and someone who is loved and accepted for who she is just as she is, and we have the privilege of witnessing her self-actualization. It's a hard to read story, but it's one full of beauty and hope.
4.5, rounding up to 5.
June 1, 2024
I will never look at a pomegranate the same again! My heart goes out to Ranita, this story had me crying for her and with her. Yet, I still felt a sense of joy when she found her voice, happiness and sense of community after struggling with so much abuse during adolescence. This is a story I will be thinking about for a while.
May 31, 2023
3.5
There's a lot of things I loved about this book, but things I also didn't care for.
The writing is really strong. Scenes are vivid without being overwritten. The characters are very clearly written out and distinctive. The story moves between past and present, and it's done in a really great way that reveals information smoothly and intentionally. It's a great lesson in storytelling, despite the issues I have with it.
However, I do feel like a lot of the plot is redundant and overdone. It almost crosses the line of being trauma porn but doesn't quite get there. So many awful things happen to Ranita, and it's not as if they are unrealistic by any means - many people who go through the traumas Ranita goes through end up in prison/addicts/etc. But because these awful things are compounded, it doesn't feel as if any of them are fully fleshed out; everything feels incredibly surface level. When Ranita remembers a repressed memory in therapy, the memory comes back to her instantly when her therapist merely suggests that she might have trauma she is suppressing. This doesn't feel realistic by any means. I'm not saying it is impossible, but many people who work to uncover repressed memories have to work at it for a while. This memory seems like it is the core of why Ranita struggled as a teenager which impacted her later in life, but once we discover what it is 3/4 of the way through the story, it's not really investigated or given proper attention. One of the men in Ranita's life, who aided in her going to prison, is introduced once in the story and it seems like more is going to happen with him but then doesn't. There are a handful of people who are introduced and some pages are given to them, but we ultimately lose track of them. The last quarter of the book seems to abandon most of it's central characters.
There are also parts of the story that feel very "trope-y". Ranita's angsty daughter who resents her for being a shitty mom/going to prison and Ranita's seeming shock at this behavior. Her aunts feel stereotypical at times.
The themes of this book - prison, addiction, queerness, etc - don't feel genuinely written. They feel like things the author has read about but never truly experienced. And that's not to say that authors can only write things they've experienced. But because of this, we get, again, very surface level descriptions of these things. I never feel the depths of Ranita's addiction. The scenes in prison feel generic and like the author maybe listened to some podcasts or watched Orange Is The New Black. The entire queer storyline feels incredibly cheesy. The queer social gatherings described in this book feel like they are a straight person's idea of what it is to be in a queer space. And speaking of queerness, Ranita's self discovery of her sexuality feels so thin. Her relationship with Maxine has no depth to it. Ranita is a supposedly straight woman when she goes into prison and comes out queer but there is no real personal digging into this. It's almost as if she has sex with one woman and that's it. I would have loved to see her grapple with this more.
There are a lot of books, fiction and non, about incarceration, addiction, grief, queerness, motherhood, etc. This books feels as if it watered down all of those books. If you've read other books about these themes, then this book will not be anything new. Nothing revelatory comes from this story. There's not a lot of freshness about the story, that even the wonderful writing can save. I felt that I was just continuing to read it because I wanted to be done with it, and not because I was invested. I think there are other books that handle these topics in more challenging and complex ways - this is just not one of them.
There's a lot of things I loved about this book, but things I also didn't care for.
The writing is really strong. Scenes are vivid without being overwritten. The characters are very clearly written out and distinctive. The story moves between past and present, and it's done in a really great way that reveals information smoothly and intentionally. It's a great lesson in storytelling, despite the issues I have with it.
However, I do feel like a lot of the plot is redundant and overdone. It almost crosses the line of being trauma porn but doesn't quite get there. So many awful things happen to Ranita, and it's not as if they are unrealistic by any means - many people who go through the traumas Ranita goes through end up in prison/addicts/etc. But because these awful things are compounded, it doesn't feel as if any of them are fully fleshed out; everything feels incredibly surface level. When Ranita remembers a repressed memory in therapy, the memory comes back to her instantly when her therapist merely suggests that she might have trauma she is suppressing. This doesn't feel realistic by any means. I'm not saying it is impossible, but many people who work to uncover repressed memories have to work at it for a while. This memory seems like it is the core of why Ranita struggled as a teenager which impacted her later in life, but once we discover what it is 3/4 of the way through the story, it's not really investigated or given proper attention. One of the men in Ranita's life, who aided in her going to prison, is introduced once in the story and it seems like more is going to happen with him but then doesn't. There are a handful of people who are introduced and some pages are given to them, but we ultimately lose track of them. The last quarter of the book seems to abandon most of it's central characters.
There are also parts of the story that feel very "trope-y". Ranita's angsty daughter who resents her for being a shitty mom/going to prison and Ranita's seeming shock at this behavior. Her aunts feel stereotypical at times.
The themes of this book - prison, addiction, queerness, etc - don't feel genuinely written. They feel like things the author has read about but never truly experienced. And that's not to say that authors can only write things they've experienced. But because of this, we get, again, very surface level descriptions of these things. I never feel the depths of Ranita's addiction. The scenes in prison feel generic and like the author maybe listened to some podcasts or watched Orange Is The New Black. The entire queer storyline feels incredibly cheesy. The queer social gatherings described in this book feel like they are a straight person's idea of what it is to be in a queer space. And speaking of queerness, Ranita's self discovery of her sexuality feels so thin. Her relationship with Maxine has no depth to it. Ranita is a supposedly straight woman when she goes into prison and comes out queer but there is no real personal digging into this. It's almost as if she has sex with one woman and that's it. I would have loved to see her grapple with this more.
There are a lot of books, fiction and non, about incarceration, addiction, grief, queerness, motherhood, etc. This books feels as if it watered down all of those books. If you've read other books about these themes, then this book will not be anything new. Nothing revelatory comes from this story. There's not a lot of freshness about the story, that even the wonderful writing can save. I felt that I was just continuing to read it because I wanted to be done with it, and not because I was invested. I think there are other books that handle these topics in more challenging and complex ways - this is just not one of them.
June 17, 2025
RTC... but I'd give this a 4.5 stars
November 29, 2022
Thank you to Atria Books for an ARC of this book. I enjoyed the writing and this story of loss, redemption and strength. Ranita is a woman released from prison after serving 4 years for drug possession and she is determined to stay clean and get back custody of her 2 children. One can’t help cheering her on as she overcomes many hurdles and struggles with both the past and the present. I loved that Ranita is an avid reader and she refers to escaping in books and finding peace in “Planet Bookworld”.
July 14, 2024
This book is immediately so warm, and grows into a really touching exploration of one woman's journey through numerous life challenges. Ranita Atwater is such an endearing protagonist, and even when she does not believe in herself, the author helps us to immediately believe in her story and the future she is trying to build for herself and her children.
One of this book's core themes is "love as an action", and how characters' choices result in them either extending care to each other, or harming the people close to them. Ranita, specifically, is caught between people's incomplete love of her, and her brave path to live out more authentic forms of love upon her reentry.
I think I was most drawn to the relationships and characters that Helen Elaine Lee placed all around Ranita in this novel. It was a rare joy and true relief to read a book where I enjoyed all the characters, even the ones I didn't particularly like. The connections between Ranita and her friends at Oak Hills, her aunts and mother, and even her past lovers felt so lived in that it was easy to find a way into caring about her and this story. You understand the weight of each relationship, and are led to root for the ones that hold promise to work out.
I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone who is in the emotional space for a tearjerker. If you feel up for a "gloomy" read but are sensitive to certain traumatic topics, I would share a TW for the following items: substance abuse/addiction, incarceration, verbal abuse (particularly from parents), domestic violence, sexual violence (including towards children), and religious violence.
One of this book's core themes is "love as an action", and how characters' choices result in them either extending care to each other, or harming the people close to them. Ranita, specifically, is caught between people's incomplete love of her, and her brave path to live out more authentic forms of love upon her reentry.
I think I was most drawn to the relationships and characters that Helen Elaine Lee placed all around Ranita in this novel. It was a rare joy and true relief to read a book where I enjoyed all the characters, even the ones I didn't particularly like. The connections between Ranita and her friends at Oak Hills, her aunts and mother, and even her past lovers felt so lived in that it was easy to find a way into caring about her and this story. You understand the weight of each relationship, and are led to root for the ones that hold promise to work out.
I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone who is in the emotional space for a tearjerker. If you feel up for a "gloomy" read but are sensitive to certain traumatic topics, I would share a TW for the following items: substance abuse/addiction, incarceration, verbal abuse (particularly from parents), domestic violence, sexual violence (including towards children), and religious violence.
June 13, 2024
dnf at 50 pgs 🥱
September 12, 2023
This book is fantastic! I am in awe of the subtlety… The author delivers devastating experiences in a quiet way that digs under the reader’s skin and settles in to stay awhile. I appreciate the way our current carceral systems are tied back to the original history of what they’re rooted in. Pomegranate easily became one of my favorite novels of 2023 - I highly recommend it!
August 1, 2023
Absolutely loved this book. Beautiful writing, a moving story about forgiveness, redemption and love. Set in Boston. Do not miss this.
February 17, 2024
A wonderful success story of a woman climbing up from a stint in prison, loss of parental rights, childhood abuse in multiple forms, etc. Beautifully told.
March 25, 2024
I tried y’all. DNF @ 60% there’s 2 ppl waiting in line for this no reason for me to hold yall up atp. 😵💫
May 1, 2023
Helen Elaine Lee’s 𝙋𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 is an unflinching portrayal of a queer Black woman in America that fights the “isms” and lives to tell her story. Ranita Atwater is an addict and an alcoholic with three years sobriety and hopes to get custody of her two children, but the journey to that endeavor comes with adversity and atonement. Not only does Ranita have to learn how to “correctly” reinstitute herself back into Boston society, she must become a mother and woman that is different than before. The novel shows us the temptation and the accountability warring with each other. However, Ranita knows: “The only solution is through, not around. Just the way through.”
While it may be clichéd to compare our MC to the pomegranate, I find that the metaphor applies so well. My research explains that the pomegranate is a “rounded fruit with a dry outer covering (husk) made up of two layers: (1) a hard-outer layer called an epicarp, (2) a soft inner layer called a mesocarp. The inner mesocarp has distinct chambers that contain fleshy [red] seeds.” Ranita Atwater is definitely harboring two layers. It is her reconnection back into the world that shows us up close this peeling back the layers of “wild” Cherry (her former self/nickname). With the help of therapy sessions and confronting wounds, we come to see the beautiful, ruby-like goodness inside that is Ranita to shine through: “Here I am, alive and awake. Still going forward and backward. And brave enough to tell about it.”
I find the prison system troubling in this novel. Ranita says: “I tell you what, you may get freed, technically, but you’re stuck with your old leaf and nothing else to turn over.” The system ruins your life and doesn’t allow you to rehabilitate into society. How can you shed “your old skin” if nobody ever lets it falls off. You’re simply a body that will fail on the inside and outside. The system is ready to welcome you back.
Overall, I enjoyed the redemption and humanity in this story. It allowed me to erase some of my misconceptions about addiction and recovery that I previously held and it encouraged me to also go find a pomegranate to eat.
While it may be clichéd to compare our MC to the pomegranate, I find that the metaphor applies so well. My research explains that the pomegranate is a “rounded fruit with a dry outer covering (husk) made up of two layers: (1) a hard-outer layer called an epicarp, (2) a soft inner layer called a mesocarp. The inner mesocarp has distinct chambers that contain fleshy [red] seeds.” Ranita Atwater is definitely harboring two layers. It is her reconnection back into the world that shows us up close this peeling back the layers of “wild” Cherry (her former self/nickname). With the help of therapy sessions and confronting wounds, we come to see the beautiful, ruby-like goodness inside that is Ranita to shine through: “Here I am, alive and awake. Still going forward and backward. And brave enough to tell about it.”
I find the prison system troubling in this novel. Ranita says: “I tell you what, you may get freed, technically, but you’re stuck with your old leaf and nothing else to turn over.” The system ruins your life and doesn’t allow you to rehabilitate into society. How can you shed “your old skin” if nobody ever lets it falls off. You’re simply a body that will fail on the inside and outside. The system is ready to welcome you back.
Overall, I enjoyed the redemption and humanity in this story. It allowed me to erase some of my misconceptions about addiction and recovery that I previously held and it encouraged me to also go find a pomegranate to eat.
June 6, 2023
5 brilliant, ruby-red stars. An aching, heartrending, yet hopeful character study of Ranita Atwater, Pomegranate is a story of identity, love, redemption, and hope.
Beautifully written in both first- and third-person prose, we learn who Ranita is as she uncovers the parts of herself that she has hidden or repressed. Powerful and moving, this novel grapples with difficult issues - child abuse, coercive relationships, parent-child relationships, and coming out - all of which Ranita faces after she is released from Oak Hills prison after four years. Beyond recovery, Ranita reflects on what it means to be a queer, Black mother and the imprisonment of the self she has experienced before and after her sentence.
Lee has created a vivid and memorable cast of characters that feel so raw and real, at times I could see them. I rooted for Ranita and her loved ones with every page. I felt joy reading about the times she was loved the way she deserved, anger when she was treated as less than, and hope when she and her daughter came close to breaking the generational trauma she inherited from her own mother.
I would highly recommend this novel for any and all interested in the failures of the justice system and the carceral state, as well as those looking to understand and empathize with those who struggle with addiction. Easily a contender for my favorite book of the year and definitely a story that will sit with me for ages.
Beautifully written in both first- and third-person prose, we learn who Ranita is as she uncovers the parts of herself that she has hidden or repressed. Powerful and moving, this novel grapples with difficult issues - child abuse, coercive relationships, parent-child relationships, and coming out - all of which Ranita faces after she is released from Oak Hills prison after four years. Beyond recovery, Ranita reflects on what it means to be a queer, Black mother and the imprisonment of the self she has experienced before and after her sentence.
Lee has created a vivid and memorable cast of characters that feel so raw and real, at times I could see them. I rooted for Ranita and her loved ones with every page. I felt joy reading about the times she was loved the way she deserved, anger when she was treated as less than, and hope when she and her daughter came close to breaking the generational trauma she inherited from her own mother.
I would highly recommend this novel for any and all interested in the failures of the justice system and the carceral state, as well as those looking to understand and empathize with those who struggle with addiction. Easily a contender for my favorite book of the year and definitely a story that will sit with me for ages.
March 24, 2023
Pomegranate by Helen Elaine Lee. Thanks to Atria and netgalley for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ranita Atwater is getting out of prison for opiate possession after a four year sentence. She is determined to stay clean and get her children back. She looks back on her life and a relationship in prison that helped to open her mind to more she could be.
This was a powerful story. Anyone interested in mental health and/or addiction will like this. It is about recovery and looking back at events in our life that made us who we are. There are in-depth therapy sessions included which was interesting from a psychology perspective. This is really a life study of Ranita, what makes her who she is, and her struggle to better herself.
“There was a whole world, strange and crazy - beautiful, underneath the skin. Layer on crooked layer of Ruby crystals. And chambers, like inside a heart.”
Pomegranate comes out 4/11.
Ranita Atwater is getting out of prison for opiate possession after a four year sentence. She is determined to stay clean and get her children back. She looks back on her life and a relationship in prison that helped to open her mind to more she could be.
This was a powerful story. Anyone interested in mental health and/or addiction will like this. It is about recovery and looking back at events in our life that made us who we are. There are in-depth therapy sessions included which was interesting from a psychology perspective. This is really a life study of Ranita, what makes her who she is, and her struggle to better herself.
“There was a whole world, strange and crazy - beautiful, underneath the skin. Layer on crooked layer of Ruby crystals. And chambers, like inside a heart.”
Pomegranate comes out 4/11.
January 5, 2025
(3.5/5) This story covered a lot of heavy topics really well, including: incarceration, SA, abuse, misogyny, racism and homophobia.
However, this book dragged far too much and needed a great deal of editing. The author often repeated sentences or ideas to the point that most of the story felt redundant.
This story was really heartbreaking and it honestly felt like the author was going for trauma porn because it was just one thing after another. All the flashbacks to every single terrible thing, too, was entirely unnecessary. Sometimes it’s ok for the reader to just deduce your meaning from context clues.
Overall, really heavy story that I feel could have been stronger.
However, this book dragged far too much and needed a great deal of editing. The author often repeated sentences or ideas to the point that most of the story felt redundant.
This story was really heartbreaking and it honestly felt like the author was going for trauma porn because it was just one thing after another. All the flashbacks to every single terrible thing, too, was entirely unnecessary. Sometimes it’s ok for the reader to just deduce your meaning from context clues.
Overall, really heavy story that I feel could have been stronger.
July 20, 2024
An absolutely beautiful story about healing and self-discovery. The author touched on so many topics (racism, addiction, incarceration, sexuality, abuse) and did a great job holding the story together. This is some of the best writing I’ve ever experienced (e-book + audio)!
March 31, 2024
“You know, there are losses, big and small, along the way. And still we play.”
3.5 stars. This was a memorable one. While I do kinda wish the story covered a little more ground, and there were a few plot points that seemed to get dropped by the wayside, it was still really moving and thought-provoking. Ranita is a queer black woman, a recovering addict, just released from prison, trying to pick up the pieces of her life, reunite with her children, and reconcile with the deaths of her father and her ex-boyfriend. And while she's looking forward, she's also looking back: at her childhood trauma, the ugly situations that shaped her life, and also the beautiful things, like the lover she left behind in prison.
This did a lot of things that I expected it to do, but that's not a complaint or a critique. It did them well! I appreciated the look at the prison system, from the inside and the outside, how it shows itself to be another form of slavery. I loved the realistic depiction of Ranita's battle with addiction, the fact that it's an everyday struggle. I loved her burgeoning queerness, and the tenderness of her relationship with Maxine, how she got to enjoy that feeling of equity, of being loved well. The therapy sessions ended up being my favourite chapters, for various reasons. I loved the non-linear format of the past chapters, how we'd skip around to different events in Ranita's past that would inform or shed a light on stuff that was happening in the present. The book did a really good job of describing just how heavy it can be, life as a black queer woman, and my heart went out to Ranita as she was getting pushed down from all sides. The complicated mother-daughter relationships really tore at my heart, which is a compliment, because I'm notoriously picky about depictions of fictional motherhood. The writing was a teensy bit heavy handed, but very effective, and I ended up loving it. The healing wasn't easy, but it was hard-earned. There were a few plot points that never really came full circle (DQ, for example) which did make the book feel a little unfinished. But I don't count that as a major flaw.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Machelle Williams and Janina Edwards, and I really enjoyed it. Even though the entire book is technically from Ranita's POV, I enjoyed that we had a different narrator for the chapters in the past. It was easier to separate it in my mind. I'd love to read more from this author; this was pretty powerful.
Content warnings:
June 15, 2024
i just could not get into this one. i’m a lover of little to no plot books if there’s strong characters or character development, but this had neither. it felt very one note and stagnant. beautifully written, i just wanted more.
January 21, 2024
4.5 stars
February 25, 2025
This story followed a mom coming out of prison, trying to heal from her trauma, stay clean, and repair her relationship with her kids. I think it did a really good job of humanizing a “bad parent”: showing the intergenerational trauma, the challenges she faces, and the love she has for her kids that’s driving her to seek change and heal herself so she can help her kids to heal. There’s so much hurt in this story, it’s definitely a heavy read at times. But it also highlights the importance of community and how it really takes a village.
April 21, 2025
sorrowful, beautiful, joyful story of a woman experiencing generational trauma, addiction, and incarceration but also motherhood, sobriety, and queer love. often when events were referenced I wasn’t sure whether they were still yet to be revealed or whether I’d read about them & forgotten the details, but that was maybe just a me thing. the switch between first and third person throughout the book was interesting also
July 16, 2024
3.5/5 | this story had so much potential but it fell short for me. Like something was missing and too much unneeded information was given.
July 28, 2025
A deep and powerful story touching on about finding yourself, forgiveness and self acceptance. The book highlights some tough subjects that may be hard to read so please check the trigger warnings. I enjoyed this story, but I couldn’t connect with the writing style. I see why others loved its lyrical-like flow, but it didn’t work for me.
July 14, 2025
I dropped this book in the river, almost threw it out of the car window, and then sat on it - it was awesome
July 1, 2025
4.5 stars. Took me a second to get into but really loved it in the end. Felt very real, I had to check that it wasn’t a memoir
May 1, 2023
Pomegranate finds the balance between precise rhythm and freefall that was not just a joy to read, heartwarming and defiant, but also encouraging and embracing, too. The story focuses really only on one character, and while there are numberless secondary characters crossing in and out of her orbit she is the heart of the story, and so the fact that she feels perfectly flawed and real and like someone I could know, someone I would want to know, really grounded this piece. In addition, most all of the secondary characters felt realized and storied. They may only have crossed into our protagonist’s story to demonstrate one thing or another, but they didn’t feel flimsy or like placeholders, even when our time spent with them was short. The writing itself was really wonderful. It felt like tumbling, like poetry that had lost its way and became prose. The technique of not just alternating the present time with the past but switching from first-person narration to third-person narration while doing so was employed really well. It could have felt hacky or a little too-on-the-nose, but instead it really did a good job of showing how the past lives in our present, informing it, and haunting it. Lastly the story itself was strong. This isn’t a just story about reform, or finding oneself, or inner strength and resilience, though it does encompass all of those things. This is a story about reconciliation, not with the outer world but with the inner world, and finding transformation in that forgiveness. It’s a love story, a story of nurture and kindness and the growth that can only come from that environment, but all of that is enclosed in the interiority of a person struggling to make every day meaningful.
I enjoyed the actual reading of this story, it was paced well and made me want to keep reading. It doesn’t get a perfect score because it felt somewhat predictable. If you read the description you can make a list guessing what kind of traumas she experienced in her past, what some of her experiences in prison were like, and what specific difficulties would arise out of prison, and if you just stuck to the normal conventions in this flavor of story you would have nailed almost all of the beats of this story. So, there weren’t any surprises, narratively speaking. But the masterful writing and the intimacy of the prose didn't leave me feeling like these were mere tropes, checkboxes on a list, and so the somewhat expectedness of the developments and experiences didn’t really detract from the story for me. I would have liked for it to have pushed me a little more, had a few more surprises, and that keeps it shy of a perfect five stars. However, having said that I highly recommend it, it is a quick read, comfortable and uplifting, even and especially when navigating what life looks like after years of unaddressed trauma and grief.
I want to thank the author, the publisher, Atria Books, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I enjoyed the actual reading of this story, it was paced well and made me want to keep reading. It doesn’t get a perfect score because it felt somewhat predictable. If you read the description you can make a list guessing what kind of traumas she experienced in her past, what some of her experiences in prison were like, and what specific difficulties would arise out of prison, and if you just stuck to the normal conventions in this flavor of story you would have nailed almost all of the beats of this story. So, there weren’t any surprises, narratively speaking. But the masterful writing and the intimacy of the prose didn't leave me feeling like these were mere tropes, checkboxes on a list, and so the somewhat expectedness of the developments and experiences didn’t really detract from the story for me. I would have liked for it to have pushed me a little more, had a few more surprises, and that keeps it shy of a perfect five stars. However, having said that I highly recommend it, it is a quick read, comfortable and uplifting, even and especially when navigating what life looks like after years of unaddressed trauma and grief.
I want to thank the author, the publisher, Atria Books, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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