Redwood Court (Reese's Book Club)

By: DéLana R. A. Dameron

Narrated by: Ashley J. Hobbs, Robin Miles, De'Onna Prince, Aaron Goodson, Dominic Hoffman

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “[A] richly textured and deeply moving debut” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice) about one unforgettable Southern Black family and its youngest daughter’s coming of age in the 1990s.

“A triumph . . . Redwood Court is storytelling at its best: tender, vivid, and richly complicated.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone

“Mika, you sit at our feet all these hours and days, hearing us tell our tales. You have all these stories inside you: all the stories everyone in our family knows and all the stories everyone in our family tells. You write ’em in your books and show everyone who we are.”

So begins award-winning poet DéLana R. A. Dameron’s debut novel, Redwood Court. The baby of the family, Mika Tabor spends much of her time in the care of loved ones, listening to their stories and witnessing their struggles. On Redwood Court, the cul-de-sac in the all-Black working-class suburb of Columbia, South Carolina, where her grandparents live, Mika learns important lessons from the people who raise her: her exhausted parents, who work long hours at multiple jobs while still making sure their kids experience the adventure of family vacations; her older sister, who in a house filled with Motown would rather listen to Alanis Morrisette; her retired grandparents, children of Jim Crow, who realized their own vision of success when they bought their house on the Court in the 1960s, imagining it filled with future generations; and the many neighbors who hold tight to the community they’ve built, committed to fostering joy and love in an America so insistent on seeing Black people stumble and fall.

With visceral clarity and powerful prose, Dameron reveals the devastation of being made to feel invisible and the transformative power of being seen. Redwood Court is a celebration of extraordinary, ordinary people striving to achieve their own American dreams.

©2024 DéLana R. A. Dameron (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A generously transportive novel, one that thoughtfully renders not only each of its characters but also the nuances of its geographies . . . The language within it echoes, feels familiar and warm. This book carried me to a joyful elsewhere.”—Hanif Abdurraqib, author of National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America

“A beautiful exploration of a family putting down roots despite the world being against them, and choosing to love one another—the broken parts and the whole—with every breath in their lungs and every beat of their enormous, powerful hearts . . . I found this family’s story deeply moving.”—Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful

“DéLana R. A. Dameron expertly weaves threads of grace, grit, and grief into a tapestry that captures the beauty of not just one particular family but family in general. This novel is a heartrending celebration of the ties that bind, and a poetic one at that.”—Christine Pride, co-author of We Are Not Like Them

Such a beautiful story!

I loved this story so much! What a beautiful story ! I identified with this story so much ( the 90’s/2000’s) references made me smile but reminded me of my childhood!

A+ performance, So So Story

To me, the story felt very disjointed. Like a collection of shorty stories that just ended, each leaving you with questions. Some stories were great and heartfelt, others could have been left out in order to extend the good ones.

Relatable

There are so many aspects of this story that I could relate to my own family in so many ways. I found it so relatable. It was wonderful to see references to the time period you were writing about through references to music, patterns of living and things that most of us thought and did during our childhoods. This story was easy to relate to and I was influenced by the characters to think about influential people in my own life who I admire. Well done!

Home Sweet Home

Coming from Columbia myself, this story felt so familiar. The characters are so fantastic and their interactions are wonderfully realistic. It felt like I was sitting around the kitchen table myself. Well done.

All of the people

I listened to this on tape. There are so many characters, I suggest making a genealogy chart at the very beginning, using the information given in chapter 1. It will give you a visual reference as each character takes their part in the story.

Audio made the book

I got this book due to it being a Reese’s book club pick. It was way too expensive to buy the physical copy so got it on audible since I had a credit. So glad I did! The story was just ok. Like a memoir that is fiction. But the audio made this book great. I would have been bored reading it by the physical copy. Not sure point of book honestly. Just one family who loved on redwood court. Some beautiful moments but then some boring ones. Overall it was ok

Wonderful family story!

I loved the writing. This book is challenging, and thoughtful, and lovely. I enjoyed reading it.

Nothing really stands out!

Nothing really stands out in the book. I finished it because I kept waiting for something exciting to happen. I never really understood what the book was about.

Hard to follow.

Hard to follow and not really a cohesive story line. Most of my bookclub members were a little confused.

TBK's review

Did not understand the book. Rather dry no excitement. I had to do a lot rereading.