Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Following nine generations of women from Africa, through the slave triangle, into the US and civil rights movements, and back to Africa, The River Where Blood is Born is ambitious, if nothing else. Jackson-Opoku takes the reader from the gateway to the afterlife, to the deep African bush, to the underground railroad through the enslaved American South, to cosmopolitan 1920's Montreal, to the West Side of Chicago, and through many more times and places. She executes this with grace on account of her control of voice and character, and her seemingly effortless ability to recreate settings. Each woman's story could stand as its own short story, or novella in Alma's case, but the interludes between them help tie the narrative together.

That said, it definitely reads like a first novel. It wanders and embellishes. The book stalls about 2/3 of the way through; the ending feels rushed and truncated, and is not as satisfying as she alludes to throughout the book.… (altro)