Book Summary and Reviews of Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

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Cathryn Conroy

This Novel Is Nearly Perfect! The Lyrical Prose Transforms a Simple Story into a Masterpiece
Oh, this book! And it's all because of the writing. Exquisite. Eloquent. Exceptional. This stunningly beautiful novel is very short, but I found myself taking longer to read it than the page count would indicate simply because I reread so many (many!) passages just to savor the sheer poetry of the words.

Masterfully written by Jacqueline Woodson, this is a multigenerational story of a Black family living in Brooklyn, New York. Iris, a good Catholic girl from a stable, upstanding family, is 15 when she gets pregnant with Melody. It's a classic tale of an unintended teenage pregnancy and the ripple-like effect it has on so many lives, but in Woodson's hands this is a tale you've never heard before. It is uplifting and heartbreaking. It is realistic and fantastical. It is beautiful and dangerous. It is prose and poetry.

This succinct novel has it all: a solid, emotionally-charged plot, vibrant characters, superb pacing, and most of all lyrical prose that transforms a simple story into a masterpiece. This novel is nearly perfect.

Susie J

A Book for These Ages - Red at the Bone
I have only known Jacqueline Woodson as a children's or young adult writer, the winner of the Newberry Prize in 2014 for Brown Girl Dreaming. When her new novel, Red to the Bone, became available at my library, I grabbed it, and I am ever so glad that I did. Now I will certainly go back and find Another Brooklyn, her first adult novel which,, in 2016, was nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction. This latest novel, Red to the Bone, is not to be missed.Tthe story of a young girl, Melody. Each chapter is told in the voice of a different family member, father, mother, grandparents, and Melody, of course, and jumps time, sex, race, and many other issues. How one writer can capture the mood and nature of so many possibilities and personalities, their pride, their joy, their pain, with age and sex and race an religion posing no barrier, is hard to imagine, but Woodson more than successfully manages this. These people are so real, their stories so vital, that in spite of possible vast differences, they relate so very clearly to all our lives. Woodson's prose, infused with subtle poetry, rings and carries the reader the a river through their history, and in the end, hope not only rises, but as Woodson says, "gleams." This is a powerful read and clearly elevates this author's literary status.

Sandi W.

get in tune with Woodson...
It took me a minute to get in the rhythm of reading this book. Because that is what you have to do with a Jacqueline Woodson book. You need to be in tune with Woodson to get the most out of her writing. She writes differently than most authors - slower, with a defined pacing, and usually in a verbiage just south of the typical book. But once you have her rhythm down - her books explode with stories.

Ancestry and parenthood are top themes throughout this book. The differences in the generations and in the two families brought together due to a pregnancy. Reminiscing - what happened and what they wished had happened. Looking back - loves cherished and loves lost and looking forward - wondering what the future would bring

Ellen

Worst book I ever read
Another story of a teen having a baby and dumping it on her parents. Could not figure who was speaking. Would have dumped it but my book club was reading the book.

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