Ours

A Novel

De: Phillip B. Williams

Narrado por: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, People, Los Angeles Times, NPR, and more

“An inventive ode to self-determination and also a surrealistic vision of Black life as forged within the crucible of American history . . . [written in] lush, ornamental prose.”—New Yorker

“Fans of The Underground Railroad, The Water Dancer, and Let Us Descend will devour this lyrical and surreal saga.”—Oprah Daily

From a writer of singular voice and vision, a mesmerizing epic that reimagines the past to explore the true nature of freedom

In this ingenious, sweeping novel, Phillip B. Williams introduces us to an enigmatic woman named Saint, a fearsome conjurer who, in the 1830s, annihilates plantations all over Arkansas to rescue the people enslaved there. She brings those she has freed to a haven of her own creation: a town just north of St. Louis, magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours.

It is in this miraculous place that Saint’s grand experiment—a truly secluded community where her people may flourish—takes root. But although Saint does her best to protect the inhabitants of Ours, over time, her conjuring and memories begin to betray her, leaving the town vulnerable to intrusions by newcomers with powers of their own. As the cracks in Saint’s creation are exposed, some begin to wonder whether the community’s safety might be yet another form of bondage.

Set over the course of four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology, and spirituality, Ours is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom by a writer of capacious vision and talent.

©2024 Phillip B. Williams (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“[An] ambitious debut . . . In lush, ornamental prose, Williams, who is also a poet, traces many characters’ entwined journeys as they seek to understand the forces that assemble and separate them. The novel is an inventive ode to self-determination and also a surrealistic vision of Black life as forged within the crucible of American history.”—The New Yorker, “The Best Books of 2024”

“Williams’s gorgeously poetic language shows his characters slowly finding not just liberation but also connection and even transcendence.”—The Washington Post, “The 11 best science fiction and fantasy books of 2024”

“Williams finds new ways to ask age-old questions: How do we have both safety and freedom? What makes a ragtag group into a community? And most important, how do we find the missing parts of ourselves in other people?”—The Washington Post

So good

This may be a new favorite! I look forward to reading other works from this author. I highly recommend.

Absolutely Incredible & Worth Every Page!!

One of the best books, from start to finish! I absolutely enjoyed this novel and the fullness of it. The author did a brilliant job of weaving the characters together and tying up all loose ends that may have appeared. The story itself is beautifully narrated, as Ms. Abbott-Pratt never disappoints! This is most certainly a must read! So glad I did!!!

too much

Honestly this could have been a richer story with less words. What seems to be a good story or idea really groans on to long, then abruptly ends.

Amazing voice performance

The voice actress was amazing! She made the story, which was already beautifully written, come alive.

peerless narration

I could listen to Joneice Abbott-Pratt reading the dictionary. Here, though, her attention to character and nuance do justice to an already lovely, unique story.

Beautiful and poetic

Well done. So much to unpack in this epic tale of the town of "Ours". The writing, the story, the poetry was magical in every way!

A talented author making significant poor choices

I really wanted to like this book. The premise was quite intriguing, the character development is handled uniquely, and the settings are described quite evocatively. I'm also familiar with the history, geography, and politics of the main region (St. Louis, Missouri, Illinois, the Mississippi River). The narrator does an amazing job. But, I stopped listening at 10 hours because there were content issues that became too much for me.

Some anachronistic terminology, using very modern terms of art like "enslaved Africans," "sex workers," "oppression," " colonizers," "whiteness," etc. – which are not inherently concerning, but which, when used collectively, are associated with a Critical Social Justice worldview that I strongly disagree with.

Even that would not be a deal-breaker, though, because I'm part of such a small religious minority that pretty much everything I read has a different worldview from my own, to some degree or other. And I want to understand other people and why they believe what they believe. The troublesome content includes stuff like: mass mŭrder, serial kıllers, sadıstic torture, seksual abuse, a main character employing voodoo ("conjure") to enslave another person to serve her will, lesɓianism, gay seksual interactions, trănsgěnderism (or, perhaps more accurately, trànsveṣtism) child abūse, self-hårm & emotional blăckmaıl.

Again, I did not reach the halfway point in this novel. There are some mysteries in the story that I am still curious about, but not enough to make me listen to more descriptions of seksual encounters [of *any* sort whatsoever], or of a mŭrderer's pleasure in kılling, or of any of the other cruelties so vividly described in this book. I'm a student of history, and am quite well-informed about man's capacity for cruelty towards his fellow man, but reading about actual crimes and deploring them is very different from reading a fictional tale with characters we're supposed to empathize with to some degree.

I'm disappointed by those authorial choices, since powerful stories can be told without such saḍistic excess, and I wanted to post this review so others might have some idea what to expect.