Book Review: Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward

📖 Quick Summary

In Let Us Descend, National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward returns with a visceral, lyrical novel about Annis, a teenage girl enslaved in the pre–Civil War American South. After being sold away from her mother and marched to a New Orleans slave market, Annis endures unimaginable brutality. Yet she remains tethered to something greater: the voices of her ancestors, her inner strength, and the spirits that guide her through pain and transformation.

This is not a story about survival—it is a meditation on power, memory, and transcendence. Through magical realism and haunting prose, Ward challenges readers to witness what it means to be human in a world that denies your humanity.

📝 My Review

I gave this novel 5 stars because of its poetic intensity, emotional gravity, and unflinching commitment to telling truth through fiction. It’s not an easy read—but it’s a necessary one.

Annis is the narrator who is both broken and fiercely whole. Her interior world—one rich with ancestral voices, myth, and longing—is what makes the novel so affecting. Jesmyn Ward doesn’t just give us a window into the past; she gives voice to the spirits history tried to silence.

The blend of magical realism allows for moments of beauty amidst horror. Ward weaves memory, mysticism, and grief into a story that is physically brutal but spiritually expansive. It left me quiet after finishing—like I’d been holding my breath for pages.

🎨 My Scrapbook Spread

The layout I created for Let Us Descend leans into shadow and spirit. I used dark tones—charcoal, bronze, deep indigo—with gold accents to represent ancestral light. I used the strong images of black women along with the glowing field of flowers when Annis was able to image her freedom. The lock represents her being put into the pit and she was able to listen to her ancestors for freedom. I used the image of the cabin is her final place of freedom.

🎥 Watch the Review

In my YouTube review I walk through my scrapbook layout and reflect on Ward’s unforgettable storytelling. I share my favorite lines, emotional takeaways, and why this book should be on your literary radar.