After reading Jones' short stories, I was interested to see his take on a novel. It turned out to be very similar. There were many, many characters here, and at times I felt like I was reading a collection of interwoven short stories. Even the chapters had similar titles to his short stories.

This novel did a fantastic job of making Manchester County feel like a real place. It was very interesting to read a slavery novel by a Black author that centered Black slaveholders, and their mixed feelings about participating in the institution. No one character really hooked me, but they all felt human.

The occasional dips into magic realism and symbolism would make this a great choice to be read together in a book club.