The novel is just so deep and there are so many layers to practically everything that it’s necessary. Sometimes having to re-read can be chalked up to bad writing, but that is definitely not the case in this book. I found I would read a passage and have to go back over it one or more times just to begin to understand what was going on and what it meant. Unfortunately for me, that meant a lot of re-reading. By that, I mean that it felt like smart person writing and, therefore, smart people reading (a la T.S. has an absolute mastery over the written word however, at times I thought the book was almost too well written. The Prophets is one of the most beautifully written novels I’ve read for this blog.

While I loved the writing of the novel, the plot wasn’t endearing to me and I felt confused half the time. I was really hoping I would love this novel since my last few reads have been subpar, but it just couldn’t deliver. Unfortunately, I found that while I loved some aspects of it, it disappointed me just as much as it had me in awe. And, despite this story being fictional, I think it brings to light an important narrative that is so often ignored. These are the stories that don’t make the history pages, but are so important in showing the interiority of enslaved people. This approach of reimagining the Old South through a queer lens is so special, touching, and necessary. Furthermore, the novel revolves around the love of two men and other LGBTQ+ relationships. It is also a truly unique novel, as it goes beyond being a story of the atrocities of slavery and instead becomes a love story. At times it hardly felt like fiction as the characters were believable and their experiences so realistic. It’s a touching fictionalization of the antebellum Old South, told through the eyes of both the slaves and slaveholders. The Prophets is a really interesting novel. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony. But when an older man-a fellow slave-seeks to gain favor by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of sanctuary, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s.

The prophets robert jones jr review