Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Let Us Descend was the final selection for the Pittsburgh Arts and Lecture series in 2023-2024. What a way to end the season. It is always hard to read about enslaved people and their struggles to gain freedom, but this book was probably the most brutal account that has been written. 

The novel begins pre-Civil War North Carolina as Annis, the protagonist, learns from her mother that her father is the owner of the plantation on which they live. Anxious to learn, she listens in to lessons that are being given to her half-sisters. From instruction on Dante's Inferno she hears the phrase that becomes the book's title. Concomitantly, her mother instructs her in self-defense, that she has learned from her mother who was one of the wives of the King of Dahomey. Not too far into the novel Annis' mother is sold. Annis is comforted by Safi, her lover, and the two women enjoy a brief but deep relationship. After Safi runs away, Annis herself is sold and she begins a grueling trek with other men and women to New Orleans. It is on the journey that she is encouraged, comforted, and buoyed by the spirit of Aza, a grandmother-like spirit. 

She is sold to a wealthy man and his wife who own a sugar plantation. Spending her time on inside duties and also harvesting the cane, Annis becomes friends with two others who are enslaved, Mary and Esther. The life that all three must endure tears at the heart and soul of anyone who reads this book. From the harshness of The Lady, to the repulsiveness of her husband, it is hard to read. After a brief tryst with Esther's brother Bastien, she finds her self pregnant and sets to make a different life for herself and the baby. 

As harsh as the action is in this book, the writing is lyrical. Ward is a gifted story teller who can paint a picture with well-chosen words and metaphors. The reader is entranced. This book was written after Ward lost her husband to lung disease. She alludes to this in the acknowledgement and thanks those who have supported her in her grief. The readers are grateful also as it shows the power of hope just as Annis finds in the novel.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

One of the featured books from the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series for 2020-2011, The Water Dancer proved an interesting, albeit at times difficult read. In some respects it is reminiscent of Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, but so different at the same time. 

Set in Virginia in pre-Civil War days, Coates tells the story of Hiram Walker, son of the white owner of the Lockless Plantation. Hiram is one of the "Tasked" (euphemistically the slaves) to the "Quality," the white privileged owners. Gifted with the force of "Conduction," the protagonist of the novel uses it to also aid other Tasked as he becomes a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The first episode of this mysterious gift, which transports a person across a body of water finds him saving himself from drowning in a carriage accident, which also happens to kill his half biological brother,  Maynard Walker. 

Hiram decides that it is time to escape the bonds of the Tasked and so, with Sophia, for whom he has deep feelings, he devises a plan. They will leave the warrens and Thena, a surrogate mother to Hiram, and find their way to freedom. Although it was a brave attempt, he is thwarted by George, a man whom he trusted and they are captured and imprisoned by slave catchers. The scenes of his imprisonment show the harsh reality of slavery and convey one of the main themes of the book - abuse and cruelty. Thanks to Corrine Quinn, another wealthy plantation owner and operative on the Underground Railroad, Hiram is freed and brought into the fold to help people. He has an aptitude of being able to produce papers for those traveling on the railroad, which is developed by Isaiah Fields (Micajah Bland) who becomes his tutor. In time Hiram arrives in Philadelphia and becomes an operative there to help slaves to freedom.  

It is there that he meets Moses, a leader to guide people from slavery. Her real name is Harriet and Coates, not too subtly suggests that she is Harriet Tubman and the two conduct many successful rescues. Among others whom he meets are Raymond and Otha White, operatives in Philadelphia.  He then  learns that Bland has taken on a mission to rescue Otha's wife and children in Alabama. In that mission he is brutally murdered, which touches Hiram deeply.  Concurrently, Hiram's conduction experiences elucidate his past, his relationship with his mother and grandmother and spur him to return to Virginia to rescue Sophia and Thena.

The Water Dancer brings the brutality of slavery to a horrific light through a myriad of characters. Each has a special connection to Hiram and his past and future. As in his interview in the virtual lecture, Coates cannot stress enough the fact that slavery is vile and immoral. He contends that in today's world, not much has changed with the brutality that the dismissal of the value of human life still is rampant. Equally important in the novel is the theme of memory and how it plays into the formation of one's identity and is enhanced by the conduction. 

Coates has a command of prose and at times can almost be lyrical. For me, the magic realism so dominant in the novel was problematic. It is my problem, not the author's as I struggle with most books in which it is a device. It was an interesting book and one that I am glad I was spurred to read. More importantly, I am glad that I was given the opportunity to hear the author speak about it.