Red at the Bone - BookWyrm

jess reviewed Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson

Review of 'Red at the Bone' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

read it for school & it just wasn't for me, but i would still recommend it to others!!

lokroma reviewed Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson

Review of 'Red at the Bone' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is my second Woodson book, and I can't quite put my finger on what I've liked about both of them. The writing is not the best I've encountered, but there is something so honest and unpretentious about the characters and their situations that I can't help but engage with them. As a white woman, I also feel I'm getting a tiny vicarious glimpse into what it means to grow up black in this country.

This book goes back and forward in time, and traces the history of three generations as they move from Tulsa to Chicago to Brooklyn. They face lots of challenges in their lives, but manage to keep moving on with hope. The story is maudlin at times, but the maudlin works. There is a sense of family as a kind of living being, moving down through the years, both nourishing and confounding its members, and there …

This is my second Woodson book, and I can't quite put my finger on what I've liked about both of them. The writing is not the best I've encountered, but there is something so honest and unpretentious about the characters and their situations that I can't help but engage with them. As a white woman, I also feel I'm getting a tiny vicarious glimpse into what it means to grow up black in this country.

This book goes back and forward in time, and traces the history of three generations as they move from Tulsa to Chicago to Brooklyn. They face lots of challenges in their lives, but manage to keep moving on with hope. The story is maudlin at times, but the maudlin works. There is a sense of family as a kind of living being, moving down through the years, both nourishing and confounding its members, and there is something deeply comforting in that I think.

pithypants reviewed Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson

Review of 'Red at the Bone' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Lots of big themes and authentic voices for such a short novel. Told from multiple perspectives, at its center this is story of an underage pregnancy and the relationships both leading up to it and resulting in its wake and the systems, pressures and desires that are bigger than individual choices.

Gossamerchild reviewed Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Review of 'Red at the Bone' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

I listened to the audiobook version of this. So amazing.

Jessie reviewed Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson

Review of 'Red at the Bone' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Why is everything Jacqueline Woodson writes so gorgeous??? Full narration audiobook also excellent.

Adrián Astur Álvarez reviewed Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson

Review of 'Red at the Bone' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

3.5 stars

Woodson is such an excellent writer. She conveys an emotional thrust so effortlessly across the page and that makes it difficult to put her writing down. This is a nice story but I didn't connect and it was over so fast I hardly had time to consider what I was reading. The sheer force of Woodson's writing elevates the story but I really wish it were a more ambitious work.