Wow.

Heartbreaking and gorgeously written. Moving and exhilarating. Devastating and imaginative. Jesmyn Ward’s storytelling is a gift to us all.

I was lucky to read an advance copy of Let Us Descend — and I can’t stop thinking about it.

LET US DESCEND

Thank you so much @scribner for the @netgalley. This comes out in X

As we all know, Jesmyn Ward is a gift and all her books are blessings onto us.

Annis also known as Arrese begins a forced journey down south after her slaveowner sold her mom. Following an inspiration from overheard lessons by her stepsisters, Annis likens her journey south to New Orleans to Dante's guided tour by Virgil through the circles of hell. Annis is also accompanied by spirits who've listened to the women of her family for several generations going back to her grandmother who beseeched aid traversing from Africa on a slave ship.

The writing is stunningly beautiful. I took so many screenshots, underlined so many beautiful passages. Ward is able to capture an essence so wholly and beautifully, no matter how hateful the setting and time period.

The relationship of Annis with Aza, her guided spirit was quite interesting. Ward is working within the confines of spirits with power yet spirits that have not altered the course of history. Aza is not omnipotent like a Christian-Judeo monotheistic God but rather more akin to Greek/Roman gods who can be supplicated and entreated with praise and pleas to extend the powers that they do hold to assist. They live off this beseeching and adulation.

But there are also other spirits who can help to take care of Annis and provide for her if only she'll listen and supplicate them. What I appreciate is that Annis does not bend to one spirit or another completely. She learns that though she is completely without tangible power in her very dire situation, she holds power with the spirits and retains it.

Jesmyn Ward's "Let Us Descend" is a heart-wrenching, yet hopeful book. Set in the south during slavery, Annis, is the daughter of her warrior mother and the master. Annis learns to fight as well as identify edible plants and mushrooms in order to survive. Annis is trying to avoid her father, but as she grows he takes a fancy to her, but her life takes a terrible turn as her mother is sent to be sold in New Orleans. This begins Annis' search for love and dealing with such a huge loss. Her mother's place is taken by a spirit that takes the form of her grandmother Aza. Where will Annis find strength and comfort?

Ward is a masterful writer and this is a masterpiece. It was an honor and privilege to read this book. It is so powerful, masterful, complex. Ward's previous books were so powerful and I found this book even more so. She created a fully realized, evocative, and heartbreaking complex reality. The magical realism enhances the book: spirit guides are duplicitous. I really can't praise it enough. I think Ward has created a masterpiece that should be read by everyone.

In my opinion, Jessmyn Ward is one of the most talented writers of our time, and this book further confirmed how I already felt about her work. Her writing is poetic, visceral, and unforgettable, with lines that I highlighted and will be returning to again and again. This book tackles the topic of American slavery through the eyes of a young woman named Annis who is sold to a cane sugar plantation close to New Orleans. Within this narrative, Ward braids in themes of ancestral trauma, resilience, the power of nature, and the invisible worlds we cannot see. It is a book of holding onto one's own power in the face of unimaginable cruelty and dehumanization.

“‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’”
— Inferno Dante Alighieri

Set in the years before the Civil War, this shares a story of the gruesome truths of slavery. As heartbreaking as this story is, this story of family, a mother and daughter whose lives are torn apart at the whim of the “master,” whose only reason is to separate them, and ensure that the mother’s daughter, who is also his daughter, Annis, won’t learn the lessons her mother wants to instill in her, and so he sells her off while she is still young.

There is a journey that begins in the Carolinas, a journey on foot for those enslaved, to New Orleans slave markets. Those that survive the journey have barely survived, are weak with hunger. Annis still has her memories, although it is not the same, but she is determined to hold onto her mother through those memories, it is the one thing that keeps her from giving up.

The beauty of how this story is shared keeps this story flowing, even when there are agonizing moments, there is an essence that adds to the understanding of just how authentic these moments feel.

Annis has been changed during the miles walked, she takes comfort in reliving moments, remembering and reliving her memories of her mother, and the stories of her grandmother. She is determined to hold on to these memories, it tethers her to the only people she loved and who loved her in return.

There is a sense of spirituality throughout this, although not one connected to religion as much as the spirits who champion these people on as they journey. Annis finds herself drawn into this unseen world, seeking answers of this life, examining grief, while also seeking answers that can only be found in what lies beyond this life.

A beautifully written story that shares the horrors that are inflicted on those who they view as ’inferior’ so they can feel superior.


Pub Date: 03 Oct 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Scribner

“The first weapon I ever held was my Mother’s hand”

Jesmyn Ward’s central character, is a teenage girl. Annis. She is marched off to New Orleans after her Mama was sold off.
Her voice, memories, grief, loneliness, struggle, hope, connection to the spirits and teachings from Mama and Grandmother, the heartbreaking despair, her yearning, fight, personality, strength, so deeply—deeply touches our hearts.

“Let Us Descend” takes us on a journey that is thoroughly hauntingly and raw ….. from working sunup to sundown every day of the week…. pulling weeds, in the swamps, filthy, blood dirty hands, bruises, mud, grit, lack of sleep, having food to eat sometimes . . .
….and starved not only for food — but for kindness.
It would have been easy to die in those sugarcanes.

Jesmyn Ward won National awards for two of her past novels:
“Sing, Unburied, Sing”,
and
“Salvage the Bones” …..
both phenomenal novels — so it was hard to imagine Jesmyn could “just do it”, again!!
But she did. MASTERFULLY!!

“Let Us Descend” is fiercely engrossing — spellbindingly told —such major critical work — its chocked full of sublimity and
villainy.

The history, tragedy, moral indignation, incredible storytelling, ……
…..with an unforgettable character: Annis….who stretches and shimmers…..
it’s gripping with exquisite prose.

Having loved Sing, Unburied Sing, I knew I'd love this one and I did! Although it's heartbreaking, Ward's lyric qualities make this book such a joy to read! Annis, the daughter of a slave is taken with many of her people to New Orleans after her own mother is sold. Her mother had taught Annis how to fight using their ancestors' bones dug up from makeshift graves, but of course she will rarely get that opportunity as they are all chained together for the arduous journey. Annis "sees" Aza frequently and gains wisdom that she takes to heart. And even though this is heartbreaking and difficult to read sometimes, Ward shows us the resilience and inner strength that kept the downtrodden hopeful and ready to face the cruel world. So lovely!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!