Offers readers the delectable pleasure of watching an outwardly perfect family crumble under its own arrogance and rot ... May remind readers of Zora Neale Hurston’s work. At her best, Citchens can effortlessly convey history, personality and desire ... Diamond is clearly the character to root for. The other major characters aren’t as absorbing ... Many crucial dialogue exchanges are skipped. Over and over, conversations that might elucidate the characters’ attitudes and reveal the changing dynamics of their relationships are missing ... This novel owes its appeal to Citchens’s intimate knowledge of the setting and its residents; I only wish she took more opportunities to have them intimately engage one another.
Told primarily through the perspectives of Priscilla and Diamond. Giving these two voices the main stage allows Citchens to reveal not only the subjugation of women under patriarchy but also the seductive power of masculinity when it is bound up in holiness.
The reader witnesses the snaps, but yearns for more of the wearing ... [Priscilla's] drastic decision to leave her old life behind certainly feels warranted, but I would have delighted in a more elaborate depiction of the circumstances that led to her choice ...
This quibble arises because I simply wanted more of this book ...
To paraphrase one of Priscilla’s more vivid characterizations of her son, the novel’s cabbage feels done, while its cornbread is soft in the middle ... Although Dominion is certainly not a romp, it reads perhaps too briskly: The novel’s message is clear, but its characters, at times, could use more fleshing out.
Nothing in the book is sensationalized: Citchens treats the subject matter with the seriousness it requires, and she sensitively handles the trauma that some of her characters endure. This is an important novel that deftly tackles misogyny and hypocrisy. A stunning debut.
