Broadway Books Book Club Discussion

Join us for the first Broadway Books Book Club meeting of 2021 and our inaugural event celebrating our Year of Toni Morrison. We will be discussing the new, highly touted debut novel by Robert Jones, Jr., The Prophets. This event will take place on Zoom on March 9th at 6:00 pm Pacific Time. In honor of this discussion, we will be offering the book at a 20% discount until March 9th. The author’s lyrical, third-person writing style has been likened to the writings of Toni Morrison. In our discussion we will compare and contrast his new work to Morrison’s Beloved.

Robert Jones, Jr., was born and raised in New York City. He received his BFA in creative writing with honors and MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Essence, OkayAfrica, The Feminist Wire, and The Grio. He is the creator of the social justice social media community Son of Baldwin and was featured in The New York Times Style Magazine’s cover story, “Black Male Writers of Our Time.”

In The Prophets, Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. 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. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony.

With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries–of ancestors and future generations to come–culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets masterfully reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.

This event is free but does require preregistration using the link at the bottom of this page. Although there is no charge to attend this event, we encourage you to purchase the authors’ books from Broadway Books so we can continue to offer programming like this. Thank you for your support!

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqdeCspzovHNzVhVkntiDMd99kNeE…

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.