Dominion

A Novel

De: Addie E. Citchens

Narrado por: Andre Giles, Angel Pean, Bahni Turpin, Dion Graham

"This novel will grab you in the gut and hold you there. It’s absolutely outstanding. Once I entered this world I didn’t want to leave.” —Roxane Gay, author of Opinions

In this taut Southern family drama featuring multicast narration, the sins of a favorite son rock a small Mississippi town.

Reverend Sabre Winfrey, Jr., shepherd of the Seven Seals Missionary Baptist Church, believes in God, his own privilege, and enterprise. He owns the barbershop and the radio station, and generally keeps an iron hand on every aspect of society in Dominion, Mississippi. He and his wife, Priscilla, have five boys; the youngest, Emanuel, is called Wonderboy—no one sings prettier, runs as fast, or turns as many heads. But Wonderboy, his father, and all the structures in place that keep them on top are not as righteous as they seem to be. And when Wonderboy is caught off guard by an encounter with a stranger, he finds himself confronted by questions he’d never imagined. His response sends shock waves through the entire community.

Priscilla and Diamond, two women who love these men, bear witness to their charms and bear the brunt of their choices. Through their eyes and their stories, Dominion offers an intricate, intimate view of how secrets control us, how shame stifles us, how silence implicates us, and how even love plays a role in the everyday violence and casual sins of the powerful.

A brilliantly crafted Black Southern family drama told with the captivating force, humor, and tenderness carried in the hearts of these women, Addie E. Citchens’s Dominion wrestles with the many brutal, sinister ways in which we are shaped by fear and patriarchy, and studies how we might yet choose to break free.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Hidden character duality

A southern tale of church and family and how some things will never change in certain places.
The many ways families move to protect or smother their children comes to surface in this novel. The handsome looks and actions of an unconsciously seething teenage boy come to light here. As well as the community that tried to love and uphold him.
What would or wouldn’t you do for your own children?
Overall a very impressive listen.

It was fine

It was fine- the younger male narrator was difficult to understand. I didn’t love it the story but the message is still there and I appreciated that.

This will be literary canon!

I am so happy to have come upon such a talented writer. This book is so southern, so Mississippi, so genuine and so beautifully written. The prose, the “interpolation” or Sabre Points, the narrators and this story! I cannot wait to read more from the brilliant Addie Citchens!

This Book is Fire

Brilliant I loved this book. Relatable story. Read it twice. Well done well done well done!

What a ride!

Church drama, teenage love, and a whole heap of bad decisions make for a good time. I’ve never loved to hate so many characters at once as I did with this book. The narrators were also impeccable. GET IT!!

Exquisite storytelling

I finished it, and then I restarted it and ran it back again.

I’ve never done that before but I was so invested in the story, I had to listen once more to make sure I hadn’t missed a nuance or a fact.
The male voices were authentically’ country’ and at times hard to understand, Since they contained vital parts of the experience I found myself digging deep.

I loved this book. Plots and realities elegantly understated yet familiar, right up to the “ did I see that coming? “ end.

So many secrets

This book was hilarious. MESSSSSSSSY! It’s giving Greenleaf!! My jaw was on the floor multiple times. This family was so manipulative. You have to do a lot of reading in between the lines and pick up on inferences, which I enjoyed.

I didn’t understand why the FMCs POV were in first person but the men in third person. It through me off so bad. The timeline seemed kind of off. The male narrator was so country, I could barely understand him.

Scandalous PKs and Church Folk

I finished this in one day. All the secrets and lies kept me glued to my AirPods. Ms Bahni Turpin as Priscilla is amazing as always. Angel and Dion are also top tier narrators. I wasn’t expecting this story at all, but anyone who knows Pastors, First Ladies and their kids are held to a high standard than the rest of the church folks, but they are flawed like the rest of us. I wanted to shake Diamond so many times, but I loved the ending. Highly recommend.

Just because its beautiful, doesn't mean its not dangerous.

This is a great listen. Captivating. So many life lessons are learned in this book. Karma eventually will catch up with you. Love is not always what it seems. Danger comes in beautiful packages.

Warm, Sneaky, Like a Good Bourbon

I pre-ordered this family drama and waited with anticipation until its release date. It did not disappoint.

If you’re into family drama entrées, with delectable sides of romance, childhood trauma, and church gossip, Dominion, Mississippi is the place for you. I love the way Addie Citchens develops her characters, but especially the realistic and dynamic stories of southern Black women.

If you have half a heart, you will feel big bold feelings of love, lust, terror, abandonment and more. The warm up takes time to understand these characters, who they are (at least on the surface), and what they want, but the backstory is worth the wait while the action heats up like a hot Mississippi summer day. There are twists. There are turns.

But mostly, there’s a whole lotta heart.