INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
An Instant Washington Post, USA Today, and Indie Bestseller
"Epic…. I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family…. A combination of historical and modern story—I’ve never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me." —Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Book Club Pick
Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction • Shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize • An Indie Next Pick • A New York Times Book Everyone Will Be Talking About • A People 5 Best Books of the Summer • A Good Morning America 15 Summer Book Club Picks • An Essence Best Book of the Summer • A Time 11 Best Books of the Month • A Washington Post 10 Books of the Month • A CNN Best Book of the Month • A Ms. Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Book Page Writer to Watch • A USA Today Book Not to Miss • A Chicago Tribune Summer Must-Read • An Observer Best Summer Book • A Millions Most Anticipated Book • A Ms. Book of the Month • A Well-Read Black Girl Book Club Pick • A BiblioLifestyle Most Anticipated Literary Book of the Summer • A Deep South Best Book of the Summer • Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
The 2020 National Book Award–nominated poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic—an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer—that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era.
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,” a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’s words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans—the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers—Ailey carries Du Bois’s Problem on her shoulders.
Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother’s family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women—her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries—that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.
To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family’s past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors—Indigenous, Black, and white—in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story—and the song—of America itself.
3 有用 Esperança 2022-05-16 02:56:16
语言太美太美,种族问题写得很深入全面,是虚构作品没错,但读完收获的不仅有动人的故事,也有两百年、三个种族血脉传承的生活图景(篇幅是真的长!)
1 有用 hanena 2023-08-20 03:45:22 美国
史诗般的小说。用历代女性的角度去解读南方黑人家族史。两条线中家族史这条极好,自己这条前半部分太细致了一些,可能是因为没有什么共鸣,差点读不下去,但到了女主研究生阶段和家族史那条联系紧密了就很好看了。作者在那个阶段非常愤怒,没看到她后来怎么和自己和解的。黑人的历史读得不多,但每读一些,就觉得他们的历史包袱好重。
3 有用 宫城肉包子 2022-06-23 11:44:47
太喜欢。其实对historical fiction一直是望而却步。起先是因为W.E.B.Du Bois的名字才开始读的,但是发觉两个时代的故事交织在一起形成一种如同双人歌唱的曲调,拥有一定的历史基础读起来的确是会更容易一点,但是不妨碍它对于一片土地不同时代中,每个细微的黑人们进行流畅地刻画,这并非让人觉得是单纯的记录,也并非只是刻板地传达出关于这个族群的印象,而是将它们柔软地串联,苦痛与欢乐都密布... 太喜欢。其实对historical fiction一直是望而却步。起先是因为W.E.B.Du Bois的名字才开始读的,但是发觉两个时代的故事交织在一起形成一种如同双人歌唱的曲调,拥有一定的历史基础读起来的确是会更容易一点,但是不妨碍它对于一片土地不同时代中,每个细微的黑人们进行流畅地刻画,这并非让人觉得是单纯的记录,也并非只是刻板地传达出关于这个族群的印象,而是将它们柔软地串联,苦痛与欢乐都密布交织,所以我想为何这本书会叫love songs,是因为love song也许真正如此:不是完全的爱慕,而是带着眼泪与深爱,它才会唱起。所以我想这本书太让我惊讶了,无需跨越太多时间的隔阂并努力想象,如果拥有愿意迈进这个故事的心与情感,就能一同倾听。在Lydia逝世那里哭了好几次。 (展开)
0 有用 NoNo 2022-12-07 09:01:39 美国
“We are the earth, the land. The tongue that speaks and trips on the names of the dead as it dares to tell these stories of a woman’s line.” 男人向来短寿,而男人留下的烂摊子总归要由女人承担。战争的惨痛如此,家庭的琐碎亦是如此。 过去与现在的双线叙事贯穿全书,... “We are the earth, the land. The tongue that speaks and trips on the names of the dead as it dares to tell these stories of a woman’s line.” 男人向来短寿,而男人留下的烂摊子总归要由女人承担。战争的惨痛如此,家庭的琐碎亦是如此。 过去与现在的双线叙事贯穿全书,从非洲部落至美国为奴的哀歌固然可歌可泣,但我始终偏爱现在时,尤其是Lydia去世前出现的幻影,充满了绝望之美。 (展开)
0 有用 Le Flaneur 2023-05-21 23:29:27 上海
篇幅很长,涉及一个家族几百年的历史,但还挺好读的,情节和遣词造句都不复杂;很喜欢的一点是追溯家族历史的时候,有很多地方都是追溯母系那一支,寻找女性家人之间的联结;但书中引用Dubois的地方有点太生硬了,感觉像是为了引用Dubois而引用,把书中所有关于Dubois的内容都删掉也不会对情节造成什么影响