Grace - Book Review

 

Grace

by Natashia Deon

Poetic, stunning storytelling, complex in its plotting yet rewarding to readers who catch the bug and simply cant put the book down. 

 

Hearing the author online speak at a book reading gave me so much insight and respect for her as a seer, storyteller, and I assume healer. Natashia Deon is so much more than the many titles and awards she has earned. She is a time-traveling soul, and she knows and accepts the responsibilities that come with being just that.

 

The confusion in who is who, who is talking and what happened to who, begins with the first running away from a killing.

The following includes in-depth spoilers with observations during and after reading the book "Grace."

 

Not until almost the end, pg.357, when Soledad Shepard kills her husband and afterward hollers out 'That slave girl killed him.' did i realize the story had circled back on itself. In other words, Naomi would be forced to run a second time, this time while pregnant with Josey. And this time she would die. I think. 

 

This is what trips readers up. The introduction where Naomi is killed, and her baby taken by bobby lee. This occurs after the killing of Mr. Shepard by his Mexican wife Soledad, not after the killing of Massa and boss.

 

As a reader you are caught up wondering throughout the book how is Naomi alive, if she died already and is a spirit. You then get confused, thinking the spirit is possibly Naomi's mother Leah, who was killed by Massa the night Naomi must run away.

 

Recall, the bounty hunters were still looking for a tall black man seen running in the rain after Massa and boss were killed. It was Naomi who was seen actually running with Massa's coat held over her head to protect her from the rain, not a tall black man.

 

The introduction does not have a timestamp, so it is assumed Naomi is running from the first killing of Massa and boss, Faunsdale, Alabama 1846. In actuality, the introduction featuring Naomi's death by bobby lee and his two cousins ray and henry, happens after Mr. Shepard is killed by his wife Soledad in Conyers, Georgia 1848, two years after the killing of Massa and boss.

 

 

So, the first killing of Massa Hilden and boss his buck slave, actually did not result in the hunting down death of Naomi. And when Naomi dies after the second killing of Mr. Shepard, she becomes a spirit watching over her daughter Josephine aka Josey.

 

So, was it the author's intent to scramble up the plot, making readers engage more and revisit what they thought they knew time and time again? Possibly. It made for a mental exercise in the space time continuum. I can see how many reviewers felt they were lost and losing their minds trying to keep on track with the story. It took patient and persistent diligence in overcoming the confusion. I finally made myself stop trying to figure out what was what and just read along. That decision made my reading more enjoyable and much more exciting. To let an author share with you their unique brew, you must first empty out your cup of expectations. (a paraphrase on Bruce Lee’s saying about emptying out your bowl of tea so that he can give some of his tea to you)

 

I must say, never, very seldom, have I almost written off or given up on a book, only to keep reading and find myself so glad I stayed with it. A very rewarding read.

 

Reading Grace requires a mental rhythm not unlike that required in playing a musical instrument. The notes/chords and timing make the brain alternate and fluctuate back and forth, causing a wave. It takes some reading agility and flexibility to ride that wave and not tumble down into the depths of the dark sea that is a deep yet mystical story about women surviving men.

 

I can only imagine the wave a woman must learn to master to survive such a manly sea our society floats on.

 

After finishing the book Grace last night, I took time to take in all that I had read. I chose to sleep on it before writing a review of my thoughts. Not long after coming home from taking a nighttime walk, two things came to me about the book.

1.   The novel’s unique “Composition” challenged me to stay focused and engaged with its characters.

2.   The strength of black women and their commitment to protecting family, even beyond death, against all odds, is clearly the theme. Sacrifice today for the blessings of tomorrow.

 

Once I knew for sure who was the ghost and what incidents happened in which place and time, I recognized everything the author did and why she presented the two stories alternatingly.

The story is told by a young slave daughter who went on the run after killing the white Massa who had violently shot and killed her momma. (Massa had also killed her sister’s fiancée)

Two years later, in a different place, pregnant and on the run again, the daughter births her daughter (minutes before her own death) before being hunted down and killed for a murder she did not commit.

It is what happens in between these two deathly scenes that gives this novel so much depth and suspenseful atmosphere. Survival.

The in-between teeters between what was, what is, and what is yet to be. It bridges peoples, places, and incidents, holding all things in the balance of time and fate. The alternating of place and time, with a ghost who sees both, is to show that our time and place in this life is just an illusion compared to the bigger spiritual picture. Anger, hatred, and fear in this world might keep us from getting to the real promised land. The ghost can move on only after knowing she is loved and can feel il the love overcome the pain and suffering she has lived and died with.

 

The strength and love of black women in this novel, and how that it is infused and passed on to daughters, and then their daughters, is the message. The cycle of birth, death, birth, death is the story of life. What happens in between the alternating states is the story of black women. Love and survival.

Imagine, to feel the strength and love of enslaved ancestors in yourself as a black woman today. And to see it passed on from you to your daughter, knowing that it is the same love and strength that passed from mother to daughter all the way back past slavery, to ancient times. That is the story of human life and survival. To be born, to live, to love, to die.

Grace is a good a book as any I’ve had the pleasure of reading in 2020 so far. What made it so special is I learned another method of reading and writing that can bring out the best in a story and its reader’s thoughts. What better for an author than to have his/her audience so engaged in a story they will give up analyzing along the way and just sit back to enjoy wherever the author wishes to take them. And, to discover in the end it was a better journey than you as a reader could have ever imagined.

Cyclical Composition. In other words, it began at a point, traveled around to other unforeseeable points, and returned to its starting point wiser, stronger, and lovelier than before its journey began. Birth, Life, Death.

 

So, the question it raises to readers is this: What did you do while in-between?