Red at the Bone highlights the repercussions of a teenage pregnancy on two young parents and their respective families. And maybe that was what being not poor was. He wanted Melody to never have hands like his mother’s. She’s wearing a beautiful white dress that was made for her mother, Iris, who never got to wear it because she fell pregnant when still a schoolgirl.Īs Melody descends the staircase in her grandparent’s brownstone house in Brooklyn, the time-shifting narrative explores all the interconnections in Melody’s family, detailing the personal histories of her parents and grandparents, to create an authentic portrait of an ordinary hard-working family wanting the very best for their loved ones. The story revolves around Melody, a 16-year-old about to make her coming of age debut, in 2001. Perhaps it didn’t help that the week I read it I was distracted by (1) the never-ending USA Presidential Election count and (2) a looming deadline for a massive project at work. Given different circumstances, I may well have found this story more engaging and immersive than I did upon my initial reading. It features everything I love in a great story: well-drawn characters, vivid prose, a strong narrative voice, thought-provoking themes (including race, class, sexuality, teen pregnancy, social mobility and ambition) and an original structure that interweaves different storylines and jumps backwards and forwards in time.īut this novella about a Black American family, told from multiple points of view, didn’t really work for me. It’s been nominated for many prizes (including the Women’s Prize for Fiction), been a runaway bestseller and named as one of the books of the year in countless media outlets ( New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today et al). Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone came recommended to me with much fanfare. Fiction – Kindle edition W&N 208 pages 2020.
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