Red River by Lalita Tademy

I was very disappointed in Red River by Lalita Tademy. This is a story of a real historical event during the Reconstruction, The Colfax Riots, and the struggles of the African American families involved. I could not shake the easy comparison to the novels of Toni Morrison and Zora Neal Hurston. Unfortunately, this novel it not live up to the comparison.

The narrative was a mess, randomly switching between third person omniscient and fly on the wall. The early portion of the novel deals with the time leading up to the Riot in painfully detailed descriptions. Too much unnecessary information about things that proved unimportant. I felt bored and kept waiting for something to happen. The second portion of the novel deals with the aftermath of the Riot; unfortunately, it skipped over many of the aspects of the story that I wanted more of. For example, two of the brothers had serious trust issues that lead to the bankruptcy of one and the financial gain of the other. This was almost entirely skipped. The second half of the novel covers a huge amount of time but offers very little in the actual lives of the characters.

If you are looking for a novel about the struggles of an African American family in post-civil war America read There Eyes were Watching God or a Toni Morrison novel.