Red at the Bone

A Novel

By: Jacqueline Woodson

Narrated by: Jacqueline Woodson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Peter Francis James, Shayna Small, Bahni Turpin

Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019 by LitHub and The Millions. Called one of the Top 10 Literary Fiction titles of Fall by Publishers Weekly. 

An extraordinary new novel about the influence of history on a contemporary family, from the New York Times best-selling and National Book Award-winning author of Another Brooklyn and Brown Girl Dreaming.

Two families from different social classes are joined together by an unexpected pregnancy and the child that it produces. Moving forward and backward in time, with the power of poetry and the emotional richness of a narrative 10 times its length, Jacqueline Woodson's extraordinary new novel uncovers the role that history and community have played in the experiences, decisions, and relationships of these families, and in the life of this child. 

As the book opens in 2001, it is the evening of 16-year-old Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the soundtrack of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress. But the event is not without poignancy. Sixteen years earlier, that very dress was measured and sewn for a different wearer: Melody's mother, for her own ceremony - a celebration that ultimately never took place. 

Unfurling the history of Melody's parents and grandparents to show how they all arrived at this moment, Woodson considers not just their ambitions and successes but also the costs, the tolls they've paid for striving to overcome expectations and escape the pull of history. As it explores sexual desire and identity, ambition, gentrification, education, class, and status, and the life-altering facts of parenthood, Red at the Bone most strikingly looks at the ways in which young people must so often make long-lasting decisions about their lives - even before they have begun to figure out who they are and what they want to be.

Read by Jacqueline Woodson, with Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Sabe), Peter Francis James (Po’Boy), Shayna Small (Iris), and Bahni Turpin (Melody)

©2019 Jacqueline Woodson (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

 “Readers mourning the death of Toni Morrison will find comfort in Sabe's magnificent cadences as she rues her daughter's teen pregnancy, which flies in the face of the lessons her mama ingrained in her from the Tulsa race riots of 1921 - the massacre by whites that drove her family north and taught them to vigilantly safeguard their social and economic gains.... With Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson has indeed risen - even further into the ranks of great literature.” (NPR)

"[A] beautifully imagined novel... Woodson’s nuanced voice evokes the complexities of race, class, religion, and sexuality in fluid prose and a series of telling details. This is a wise, powerful, and compassionate novel." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"Occasionally mentioned, and never forgotten, is the fact that Iris’s family moved to Brooklyn from the South in 1921 after White people in Tulsa burned down Black people’s schools, restaurants and beauty shops. It’s not just that the past informs the present, nor is it just that the past isn’t past; it’s also the case that the past has to be remembered, has to be kept alive.” (The New York Times)

Magic

As always, Jacqueline Woodson has created a world I wanted to stay in for hours. At just under four hours, I felt like the audiobook was beautiful and wonderful but I wanted it to go on for hours more. Living in the world of these characters was compelling and a beautiful experience. The narrators were excellent and gave a sense of each character. Can't wait for her next effort!

Compelling story. Excellent narration.

Loved the narrators. I picked this book accidentally and almost returned it because I rarely buy short books— always trying to get my money’s worth! But I am glad I kept it and listened. The perspective of each character and the sequence of the tale unfolding was special.

So beautiful!

The writing is so beautiful. It is like reading poetry in prose form. This multigenerational story is told from every perspective and performed expertly by the cast!

Just Ok

This book was chosen for my book club. While parts of the storyline were really good... others left me scratching my head. It was almost like the author had an idea of how she wanted it to end... then wrote a story to go with it. While some of the characters were well developed, I was left wanting to know more. The monotone reading of the author’s voice drove me crazy. So, not the best book for me but there were parts that were very well written.

wow

I'm not surprised but this is next level for J.Woodson. This is pretty deep so most may not understand or be able to relate. I'm going to listen again.

Boring

listening to this book was about as exciting as was about as exciting as watching rocks race. Im going to quit my book club if they EVER suggest such a boring book again.

An intergenerational story of legacy and identity

“If this moment was a sentence, I’d be the period.” thinks Melody as she prepares for her coming-of-age ceremony that is about to take place in her grandparent’s living room. Melody is wearing the dress that her mother should have worn 16 years earlier, at her own event, had she not been pregnant with Melody. “Back then, that was as far as Iris could see—pregnancy, then birth, then a baby. She hadn’t thought of the shame that would force her mother to move them out of Bushwick. Hadn’t thought about the baby growing into a child and one day that child becoming her own age—and older than that.” Red at the Bone is a moving and beautiful written story of family - and of family legacy. An intergenerational story of each generation's effect on the one before it, and the one that comes after it, and the quest to find one’s own identity.

Moving back and forth in time, over several generations, Woodson explores issues of desire, birthright, passion, compassion and economic status. Red at the Bone looks at how the decisions of youth can transform the future and the myriad of ways that parenthood can change our lives, and the lives of those around us, for better and for worse. “Look how beautifully black we are. And as we dance, I am not Melody who is sixteen, I am not my parents’ once illegitimate daughter—I am a narrative, someone’s almost forgotten story. Remembered.”

A character driven story full heart. With fascinating, beautiful and well-developed characters for whom you'll love and feel deeply affected by. An emotional story with deep historical references to events from the Tulsa Massacre to 0-11! A book of less than 200 pages that packs in so much. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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More please!

I wanted to hear more! More about what happened when. When her child lived, loved and experienced age.

I enjoyed it

The plot is not too deep. Good for light "reading". It took a couple of chapters to get used to the different narrators. But once you learn to recognized the different characters' voices, it moves along nicely.

Just ok!

It’s a pity Ms Turpin didn’t do the full narration. The others were ok but hers most compelling. It could have been a longer book. The writer and editors could have better developed the characters, maybe even 1 or 2. Felt like I didn’t really know or understand anyone at the end.