Name: Jam on the Vine
ISBN: 9780802123343

LaShonda Katrice Barnett

Leaving behind life in a poor, segregated town in east Texas for a journalism scholarship, Ivoe Williams founds the first female-run African American newspaper, "Jam! On The Vine," amid an outbreak of lynchings and race riots across the Midwest.

A Novel

Jam on the Vine

anna near

This was such an interesting premise and I am forever disappointed that I didn't like this book. 

It started out promising and revolved around the main character's family. The dynamic between characters and exploration into the struggles they endured was interesting and I actually really liked it. Ivoe seemed like a great character. However, after the story moves along, Ivoe becomes very 1 dimensional and the pacing completely goes off the rails. The writing confused me and I had to reread so much just to understand what was happening. The POV changed between paragraphs which was so distracting. Some of the plot lines, particularly the romance was ridiculous and pulled me out of the narrative. I kept reading for the plot advertised in the blurb, but she doesn't even start the aforementioned newspaper until 90% of the way through.

An interesting tribute to black history, and if it was edited better I think it could've been a more enjoyable read. But as is, it's just forgettable

4.5 stars, rounded up.

This is a beautiful novel. I really hate that it took me so long to read it! It is very much a "slice of life" story in that it's not terribly plot-driven, and in fact there are lots of time jumps which were sometimes jarring, but ultimately the time jumps didn't impact the storytelling.

Reading this so closely after Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption really struck me with how similar the justice systems described in each book are, despite being 60-70 years apart. And even today, in 2020, black men are incarcerated at a much higher rate than white men. It's so easy to say "well the events in this book were 100 years ago" but despite advancements like the Civil Rights Act and the abolition of Jim Crow, not enough has changed. While the justice system part of this book is limited to the last 1/2 of the book, it is a hugely important piece of the story.

I loved most of the characters in this book. The way Barnett wrote them, it's hard not to! Despite my hesitation from the summary that Ivoe is in a relationship with her former professor, the way the relationship unfolded was totally natural and began as a mentor/mentee relationship, then evolved into a friendship and finally a relationship long after she had left school. So I was very pleased that they didn't get involved while Ivoe was at school, though it was clear she had a crush on Ona. Another thing I was pleased about was the fact that Ivoe was not sexually assaulted as a child. While sexual assault is unfortunately prevalent, it bugs me with how often it's in the background of lesbian characters' stories. This inevitably leads to people making the connection that sexual assault or rape can turn someone gay, so I was very pleased to see that this was not the case in this book.

This book may not be for everyone with the way it's written, but I still highly recommend it to everyone. LaShonda Katrice Barnett is immensely talented, and there are so many little things I appreciated while reading this book. It's truly great.

Jam on the Vine A Novel

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