I saw this book featured on Oprah, which really ought to have been my first clue, but it also received a Pulitzer Prize, so I figured I'd give it a chance.

Bad, bad idea.

A story about a black slave owner ought to have been interesting. But Edward Jones seems to go out of his way to make it incredibly difficult to follow, presenting characters in their most unattractive and unlikeable lights, and jumping so often between his cast of thousands (not to mention times) that I was left constantly wondering what I was meant to be reading at any given moment.

I could not finish the book. Not because I didn't want to know the ending, but because about halfway through it, I realized I already did.