I was pleasantly surprised by this book.
The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis was a vivid, astonishing, meaningful story.
The authors skillful delivery brought the characters to life, making their struggles and triumphs feel incredibly real.
Ayana Mathis attention to detail is remarkable, immersing readers in a rich and immersive setting.
I found myself emotionally invested in this story, eagerly following their journey as they navigated through challenges.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This book put me through the emotional wringer or should I say it unsettled me. The lovely writing and characters really enhanced the story. From Philadelphia, the family shelter and the communal house to Bonaparte and the farm, the interweaving of stories and characters was wonderful. So many issues were presented and explored. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. The Unsettled follows the lives of an emotionally and physically distant family across the 1980s, Philadelphia and Alabama. It is this distance that is both interesting and the inherent problem with the novel. The main characters hardly interact with one another for most of the novel, until almost 90% of the way through. The sections that took place in Philadelphia were so interesting and left me with a lot to think about and then the sections in Alabama would interrupt the flow. This had good bones but the form didn't hold together for me.

I wanted to like this book so much more! The characters were interesting, but I could not get over Ava and her disdain for those around her and her own circumstances as though she was better than them. She was the perfect example of how close so many people are to needing support! Her blindness to that made reading her sections of the book a struggle. But my bigger struggle was how slow the plot moved. Yes, at some point I realized this was more a character driven story than plot, which dismayed me. Sure I like character development, but there was so much plot to discover but the book never went there. Even the more dramatic moments felt monotone. I finished the booking feeling like maybe I missed something.

Ava Carson and her ten-year old Toussaint are thrown out of the house by her husband. They find themselves inmates of the shelter at Glenn Avenue. Ava is most unhappy to be an inmate of the shelter and is plotting to leave from the moment she arrives. Her mother, Dutchess, lives in Alabama and has always been a proponent for the rights of the colored people. Ava has a troubled relationship with her mother but finding herself left with no choice decides to return to Alabama with her son. However they run into Cass, Ava's ex-husband and Toussaint's father. Cass has now become the leader of a commune called the Ark and he draws Ava and Toussaint into it. What follows is even more chaos and displacement. The name of the book "Unsettled" is apt in that most of the characters in the book are unsettled in their lives and continue to be so through the storyline. This book is a slow burn literary exploration of issues of race and social inequalities. This is one of those books best suited for books clubs or literary discussion or book prize lists - definitely not for everybody.

Thank you Netgalley, Knopf Publishing Group and Ayana Mathis for the ARC

Every type of pain and trauma that a person can endure is depicted in some type of way in this story.

I don’t wanna say I enjoyed the story, because it is truly sad and painful. The author did a great job (in my opinion) of brining the story and its characters to life, but I was left with so many questions and no type of closure or healing. That was a disappointment. Maybe we’ll meet these characters again.

This would be a good book club selection.

I have opened this book several times but can never actually get into it. Whether it's the writing style or subject matter, I'm not sure, but after the first several chapters I lost interest. Thanks to the author Ayana Mathis, publisher Knopf, and NetGalley for allowing me this opportunity to read this book.

This was a beautifully written descriptive novel with a very appropriate title. Ava and her son Touissant are basically homeless after leaving her husband and looking for a place to settle in. They find a shelter home and slowly try putting the pieces back together, but when Toussiants dad returns on the scene it gets more complicated. I loved the character of Touissant and my heart went out to him. I loved the writing in this book..the descriptions of Alabama, the people there. Its a slow burning story but has a powerful emotional punch in the end.

I can imagine The Unsettled getting mixed reviews but lingering for many people. It's a book that will make you uncomfortable, it's a book that will make you feel raw emotions, it's a book following people with flaws who make decisions that are harmful and detrimental, it's a book about real life. There's also many layers in the story so if you're in the mood for a quick and easy read or something light to pass the time or something with a clean ending, this won't be it. This is about race and racism, it's about generational trauma, it's about poverty and living in impoverished circumstances, it's about survival in a world and society that turns a blind eye.

The story travels across generations and across distances from the rural south to the inner city and it can sometimes feel a bit confusing (in timeline, location and even reality vs. hallucinations/visions), but I also appreciate that the story depicts the complexity of big issues. As a reader, it's easy for us to criticize the characters and their actions, but the story's circuitous route demonstrates that individuals lead their lives in ways that don't always make sense and certainly aren't linear.

Everyone in this novel is unsettled. Even in the tiny hamlet of Bonaparte, Alabama, Dutchess sees the world she has loved threatened by new housing developments and old friends leaving to enjoy their senior years elsewhere. In Philadelphia, her daughter Ava has taken her son and left the most stable home either of them have ever known for a homeless shelter. Cass seeks to create a utopia but builds a shaky cult in a struggling neighborhood.

Ayana Mathis uses the 1985 MOVE bombing as the crux of her story. The characters are complex and not entirely likable but it is hard not to become entangled in their story. You will feel a lot in this novel, mostly anger at the racism, misogyny, hopelessness, deception, and more. Mathis has a literary style that is accessible and sweeping. The story will keep you engaged.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the DRC. This is my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. Ava and her ten year old son, Toussaint, escape a complicated marriage and land in a family shelter in Philadelphia in 1985. Ava feels that she has lost everything and plans to, very reluctantly, move to her childhood home in Alabama and back with her mother, Dutchess. But her ex, Cass, renters her life with a dream of communal living and neighborhood activism and she gets swept away into this dream. The dream soon turns into a nightmare of paranoia and guns, as Ava tries to find the best way forward for her and her son.

As an avid reader, I’ve waited so long for another offering from Mathis. This book doesn’t disappoint. Often hard to read, as the storyline provides glimpses into incredibly traumatic and hard stuff, but so rewarding to immerse in this story. It’s a story of family, forgiveness and hope.

I admit I suffered through this character-driven novel. While the characters were tragic and suffered from generational trauma, (undiagnosed) mental illness, and multiple types of abuse (emotional, psychological, and physical), I did not empathize or sympathize with them or their plight as much as I believe the author intended. I found the character development lacking even though great effort was given to provide backstories to support their circumstances and motivation. It just wasn’t enough for me because I was left with more questions than answers. The delivery of the story was taxing (in my opinion). When finished, there were no remarkable thoughts or takeaways and aside from those embedded threads that commented on the devastating effects of gentrification and the enaction of deceptive laws and policies, illegal intimidating acts (including lynching, trespassing, thievery, and murder) that robbed African American families of land, livelihood, and wealth surrounding the Alabama portions.

The novel follows Ava and her 10 year-old son, Toussaint’s, journey to find their footing after an argument with her controlling husband following an unexpected visit from the boy’s biological father, Cass. The argument is the proverbial “straw” that causes her to flee her broken marriage with few belongings and little money – forcing them into “the system” in the mid-1980’s Philadelphia. The desperation leads to humiliating experiences as they rely on public services for food and housing; they land in a deplorable temporary public shelter which leads to sexual exploitation, truancy and further addles both of their already fragile mental states. Their plight is paired with Ava’s estranged mother, Dutchess, an equally troubled woman with a past of wandering as a second-rate Blues singer. Hitting rock bottom, she settles with Ava’s stepfather in Bonaparte, Alabama - a historically Black town founded by emancipated slaves - where decades after his murder, she finds herself with a handful of remaining elderly residents struggling to hold on to their land despite owing back taxes and limited resources to manage their land.

The two stories are eventually connected in such an overtly obvious manner that honestly it reads like an amateurish, second-thought plot-insertion just to tie things together. The same with the second act where seemingly everyone descends into madness and bad decisions that leads to a rushed ending that eerily echoes philosophies and events surrounding the 1970’s MOVE movement in Philly.

No doubt, my review will be in the minority as I think there are aspects of the story that others will enjoy more than me.

Thanks to the publisher, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.

This is a dark, well written novel about three generations of African Americans who are adrift and struggling in their challenging environments and whose choices are often self-destructive. Duchess, once a second rate and not very successful club entertainer, is one of five remaining residents in what was originally a Louisiana black-only community. Her estranged daughter Ava, has landed in a homeless shelter in Philadelphia. Ava’s young son Toussaint just wants a normal home and family but has to deal with the environment his mother’s decisions has put him in. The story looks at ways in which social and legal institutions, development, racial history and the breakup of families creates an environment where there is little hope or motivation to change one’s circumstances. It’s a difficult but good read

I received an ARC of The Unsettled in exchange for an honest review. If it weren't for that, I would have DNFd this book. I really had trouble focusing while reading. Nothing about the story was grabbing my attention, let alone retaining it. The story bounced around between two different times and there was one character who was in both times (I think). There were a lot of characters that I had trouble keeping track of all of them. There were several things that I didn't quite think were explained, or maybe I missed it (again, focus problem). Anyway this book just didn't work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis!

In this multi-generational saga about fraught relationships, Ava is estranged from her mother, fleeing a failing marriage, searching for the father of her son all while trying to parent her son and deal with her own emotional trauma. Much of the novel is from the perspective of Ava's son, Toussaint who struggles to understand the decisions his parents make.

I didn't understand or connect with the writing style in this book. I think the story had potential but the author kept going off track and confusing me as a reader as to what was going on. I got the son and seemed to get into his story and journey but the mother didn't exemplify any characteristics that I have come to identify as a parent. Then there was the father, what was going on with him? Some may better identify with the book and get into its twists and turns. I just couldn't The story, however, was good enough to keep me reading hoping for better days for the young man.

This was a difficult, riveting read. All about family, race, and generational trauma, this is a book with a sweeping scope and a searing message. I can't pretend to understand the motives of some of the characters in this book, but I can say that I felt these characters keenly. I was totally invested in this story even as I was uncomfortable reading it. The writing is stellar and often profound. The fast pace meant I tore through this very quickly, however I won't be forgetting it anytime soon. An excellent read.

Rating: 2.5

I liked the overall story. But the writing made it feel disconnected and unemotional.