The Prophets ⭑⭑⭑⭒
Genre: Historical Fiction
US Publication: January 5, 2021
Print: 400 pages
Audio: 14 hours 52 minutes
Confetti Rating: 3.5 stars
REVIEW:
Here’s a glimpse at what will likely happen if The Prophets is picked for the standard 10-person neighborhood book club:
One person absolutely loves it and raves about its powerful storytelling, poetic writing, and biblical allusions. This person is probably on Goodreads regularly (Hi friends!!!!) and/or has an English Literature degree.
Two people think it was "good" but are glad it wasn’t longer than 400 pages. They’re looking forward to reading something “a little lighter” next.
Three people finished the whole thing but are pissed at the person who chose it. They didn’t join a book club to feel like they’re back in college taking Advanced Literary Criticism.
Four people read the first 20 or so pages and called it quits, but they still show up to the meeting for the wine and snacks.
So which one am I? Honestly, a little of all of them. I do absolutely appreciate the author’s skill and believe that it can be apropos to refer to his debut novel about two enslaved men who fell in love on a Mississippi plantation as “a masterpiece.” Yet the lyricism of the writing is so extreme that it’s not as accessible as, say, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which is a similar novel in theme and structure and preferable to my mind.
I have no doubt that The Prophets will receive many awards and accolades at 2021’s end, so I am glad to have read it. But I’m also looking forward to reading something a little lighter next, something that doesn’t make me feel like I have to write a term paper about its “dreamy realism" once finished. With snacks.
3.5 stars that I'm rounding up for the beauty of the story. But if you choose this for your book club, don't say I didn't warn you! Also make sure to checkout the link to discussion resources below the publisher synopsis.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
A novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony.
With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr. fiercely summons the voices of slaver and the enslaved alike to tell the story of these two men; from Amos the preacher to the calculating slave-master himself to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminate in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets masterfully reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.
Click here for Penguin Random House’s BCK, where you’ll find a discussion guide, a letter from the author, and lists of other writers and works that have influenced him.