Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

This book was such a masterpiece! I read it in one sitting, completely addicted! It was such a poignant, heart-warming and beautifully written story exploring the past and the present, relationships and life forming decisions, all spun together into an intricate web.

The story starts in 2001 at the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody’s coming of age ceremony in her grandparents’ Brooklyn brownstone, but from there Jacqueline Woodson takes us both forward and backward in time to uncover the role that history and community have played in the experiences, decisions, and relationships of the present family members.

Each person got to tell their story in a chapter each, which was such a brilliant way to tell the story from different perspectives. It was so impressive how Jacqueline Woodson managed to flesh out all of the characters in just those few pages! She really made them authentic and lovable people with emotions, fear and love, explaining the backgrounds and decisions that made them arrive at this very moment and the tolls they’d paid for it.

Even though it’s quite a short book, there were so many themes and issued covered; from race and class, to identity, love, loss, life and death. It shows how the past keeps continuing to form the present due to family history, but also due to historical events such as the 1921 Tulsa massacres. But the beautiful poetic writing style never made it feel crowded, every word in this book was there for a reason and most of the past events were hinted at rather than lengthy described.

All in all, this coming-of-age, inter-generational black family drama is simply magnificent! A poignantly painted picture of tragedy and hope, heartbreak and joy, and how the decisions we make at a young age can define us forever. I cannot recommend it enough!

Rating:
5 stars

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​Author info:
Jacqueline Woodson