“How devastating and glorious this is. Epic in its scale, intimate in its force, and lyrical in its beauty. The Prophets shakes right down to the bone what the American novel is, should do, and can be. That shuffling sound you hear is Morrison, Baldwin, and Angelou whooping and hollering both in pride, and wonder.”

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

Just finished The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. Debut novel.
This is one of the most anticipated novels of the year and it lives up to its billing.
The story takes place on a Plantation in Louisiana prior to the civil war, and it’s the story of Isiah and Samuel, two young men who are the biggest and strongest of the workers in the plantation. They live together in the barn where they take care of the animals and take care of each other, in ways that must be kept secret. The other slaves who begin to understand their relationship keep it to themselves, but the Plantation owners start asking questions when these two strong men fail to produce offspring when forced to mate with other slaves for breeding purposes.

Their problem is also compounded by Amos, a slave who is willing to follow the God of his white masters and preach his word to the other slaves, hoping to keep them in line. It becomes obvious where this story is heading.

Even though you can feel how this story will turn out, the writing is so good and the other characters in the book are so well thought out and add so much to the story that there will still be surprises in the story that will keep you turning each page, wondering how this tale will finally work itself out.
An outstanding start to 2021 and to this authors career, the Prophets is well worth reading.
Highly recommended!

 

Reviewed by:

Richard Franco

Added 22nd February 2021

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Richard Franco