This was a well-written, interesting, and ultimately moving story. Newton goes searching for her ancestors, in part because of her troubled relationships with her parents and their legacies in her life. She begins with the genealogy part, researching in census and other online records to locate the people she came from. Being from the south, she learns quickly about how many of her ancestors enslaved people, and how this does and does not connect with the racism she observed in her family growing up.

Because of her mistrust of her father and her estrangement from him, she does not even mention his name for fear of being sued - he sounds like a completely unpleasant person and it's hard to believe anyone would put up with him for two minutes.

Newton moves from genealogy, to DNA, to the complexities of accepting her ancestors as where she came from, without idealizing them. Realizing that it would make no sense for her, a southern white woman, to try to pursue "ancestor work" using African or Native American models, she looks for ways to do ancestor work as someone of 100% European origins, and to use what she actually has, so to speak. While a lot of the "ancestor work" she describes seems rather woo-woo to me (visualizing ancestral spirits and so on), the idea of thinking what ancestors might be "well" in a possible afterlife (because they were properly mourned and remembered after their death) vs. which ones might not be makes a sort of sense and I can see right away where a few people in my lineage would not be very well and which ones definitely would not be.

Ultimately, Newton finds a trove of writings from the 1960s and 70s by the great-great-aunt from whom she chose her pen name, and finds wit, intelligence, and virulent racism. While this is a disappointment to her, she feels it's better to know.

In the final pages, she composes a message of forgiveness to her maternal line that I found extremely moving, since that's the line of mine that also contains a lot of complexity and strange resentment (although nothing like the intense levels of dysfunction Newton found in her family). I took a quick photo of that paragraph so I can revisit it and think about it.

This is a worthwhile read for any white American who has ancestors. Yes, that means all of us.

Interesting and well-written, but a bit slow moving. If you like genealogy research, this book may appeal. Regarding the scholarly content on the history of ancestor worship: a little goes a long way.

Sprawling, as the author said. In depth, as well. Unfortunately, tedious. Though very well written, I think this will appeal to a limited audience only. Even though I knew it was non-fiction, I expected something a little more revelatory or astounding, somewhere.

(Spoiler alert!)
When I started reading this book, I had forgotten that it was a work of non-fiction.
As I was reading, I realized that the author was talking about herself and her family.
Yes, it was an interesting read. By the time I finished the book, I was wondering why I read it.
This is an in-depth dive into the author's ancestry. The impetus for writing the book seems to be her father, who was incredibly racist. So, I understood that she was searching back in her family tree to see where that racism came from.
She was definitely disappointed to find that the real Maud Newton, from whom she borrowed her name, was also a racist.
Somehow, I thought the book was going somewhere. I expected some revelation that would be astounding.
No.
What I got from the end of the book was that, besides being a racist, her father was unfaithful to her mother and also a liar to every girlfriend he had after her.
Was I shocked that she cut off all contact with her father?
No.
So, interesting but not a book I would recommend.

In many ways, I was most interested in the author's diligent tracing of her family roots, especially once she recognized that both sides of her family had owned slaves, To some degree, she was equally interested in learning more about her family members who had ended up institutionalized, questioning her own emotional well-being at times. Unlike with the racism, which she has vowed to try to change and addresses in her personal life, it's a bit more difficult to address depression.

In the acknowledgments, I found it interesting that she included her step-father, the man who molested her but not her father, who she remains estranged, except for written correspondence. Perhaps there was some kind of forgiveness to the stepfather that could not happen with the father. Since her father is an attorney, I also wondered if he'd find a way to make his daughter "pay" for writing this memoir. He's not the most likable character in this book.

"Ancestor Trouble" is a book that many of can relate to since families are difficult, and family secrets rarely remain hidden. Even though I am not a person who seeks to find more about my family history, the present members have given me enough insight to not want to delve deeper, I enjoyed Newton's journey of searching and discovering

Ancestor Trouble by Maud Newton is an absolutely fascinating and incredibly intimate personal journey into one woman's search for the true spine of her family's history. While reading, I couldn't stop thinking about what I might find if I actually put in the work to learn more about my own family. (Apparently I have a jewish great grandfather who left his wife and 3 kids in Brooklyn and was found, decades later, preaching in a rural midwestern church and with an entirely new family.) I don't know that I'm ready to take that journey, but I absolutely loved being along for the ride with Maud Newton!! And I just signed up for her newsletter because I don't want to miss any future essays or updates!! Highly recommend!!

5 stars
Not at all what I expected. I do feel there is a audience for this book. It is not for me. Thanks for the ARC of this book.

Sprawling is the best way to describe this book. As the author admits towards the end, the way she writes is to approach a topic from several different angles, and that is apparent here. From family anecdotes, to records-based genealogy, to genetic testing and ancestor worship, Newton leaves no stone unturned to try and make sense of her complicated relationship with her immediate family, and ancestors further removed.