Abel Jones Jr., a civil rights lawyer’s son turned black Washington neo-con, has met an unlikely end: collapsing at the Rebel Yell dinner... read full description
reviews
Feb 19, 2010
Kelley Anne
rated it: 
I received this book as part of a first-reads giveaway. I really feel that if you receive a book in a giveaway, it's your job to read the book and write a review. If it wasn't for that, I would probably never have made it past the first 50 pages. As it was, I kept trying and trying to get through this book, and finally gave up about 175 pages in. For those of you who know me, it's extremely rare for me to not finish a book!
Part of the hard part for me was the culture and lifestyl More...
Part of the hard part for me was the culture and lifestyl More...
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Aug 26, 2009
Alicia
rated it: 
I have to admit, I didn't really enjoy this book. It was about the life of Abel Jones, Jr. (or III, that was actually never clarified to me at least). He was an African-American civil rights attorney, married an African-American woman and then at some point had some sort of life crisis and became obsessed with being conservative and considered "white," he marries a white woman and works for a conservative government. Though, throughout the book it references he has been some sort of sp
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Mar 25, 2010
Judy
rated it: 
Alice Randall is an African American writer who has written two previous novels as well as many hit country songs. She lives in Nashville, where she teaches at Vanderbilt University. In other words, she has been living a full and interesting life.
I loved reading Rebel Yell. The writing is excellent, the characters are alive and leap off the page. Her theme is the many scars left on American people of color because of slavery, racism and their fight for freedom but her story is in no More...
I loved reading Rebel Yell. The writing is excellent, the characters are alive and leap off the page. Her theme is the many scars left on American people of color because of slavery, racism and their fight for freedom but her story is in no More...
Sep 02, 2009
Mary
rated it:
I am having a very hard time getting through this book. I was given the book by the publisher through a contest on Goodreads. I am going to read the complete book, but I am hoping that it gets better. I am ready to give my review on this free givaway from Goodreads. It is not worth the time it takes to read it. It is very jumbled up and does not follow a straight storyline. As you are reading it, you can easily forget what the story is about. Also, there is a book within a book, which I s
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Sep 17, 2009
Aurali
rated it:
I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.
Strengths:
1. The flashback portions when Abel was a child were interesting and telling about the man he was to become.
2. The country music loving, hard drinking, biracial protagonist was an interesting viewpoint.
Weaknesses:
1. The biggest weakness was the obtuse nature of much of the writing. I felt like writing to the author and saying "just spit it out already". For example, the sections discussin More...
Strengths:
1. The flashback portions when Abel was a child were interesting and telling about the man he was to become.
2. The country music loving, hard drinking, biracial protagonist was an interesting viewpoint.
Weaknesses:
1. The biggest weakness was the obtuse nature of much of the writing. I felt like writing to the author and saying "just spit it out already". For example, the sections discussin More...
Nov 14, 2009
Tatesha
rated it:
Wow. It is really hard for me to tell all the things I have learned from this book after just finishing less than 4 minutes ago. There were so many unexpected twists and turns, mysteries solved and unsolved in this wonderful work of art by Ms. Randall that all I can say is please go pick up a copy and indulge in it.
It is not an easy read. There are many characters and references that you will need to keep track of, but it is all worth it in the end.
I loved living Abel and More...
It is not an easy read. There are many characters and references that you will need to keep track of, but it is all worth it in the end.
I loved living Abel and More...
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Jan 02, 2010
Helen
rated it: 
Written by an African-American female describing the life of her ex-husband following his death. The husband’s father was a civil rights leaders in the 1960’s – the young boy grew up attending rallies, etc with his father. The story is told through flashbacks of his work with his father and how it shaped his future. The book treats the conflicting issues of race, culture, geography, wealth vs poverty, and personal integrity vs ambition. While scholarly-written, it was a little ponderous.
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Oct 06, 2009
Rachel
rated it:
Rebel Yell opens with Abel Jones Jr. passing away after eating at the Rebel Yell restaurant. After his funeral his first wife Hope reexamines their life together and puts together the pieces to discover the true Abel that she never knew. Both Abel and Hope grapple with issues of race and racial identity and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. I also liked how the author weaved real historical events throughout. However, some parts of the book were too cryptic for me and I felt like I wasn
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Nov 25, 2009
Stephanie
rated it:
Rebel Yell: A Novel is the first book I've read by Alice Randall that did not take as its jumping off point another work of fiction. I applaud Ms. Randall for striking out on her own, but I found myself adrift in her prose without another author's work to ground me. While I was lost amidst her plot and her characters, I found her message far too heavy-handed. I could have done with more clarity in the former, and more subtlety in the latter.
Nov 09, 2009
Tracy
rated it:
This book was ok but it went off an a tangent often and it lost me a few times. There was a spy understory that I'm not sure you ever got the full story on. There was a spy and the author just called him S_____ and I never figured out who he was. I think they told you in the last few pages but it didn't seem to add anything to the story that I saw. The book discussed issues that black people had to deal with in the South and that was interesting but after awhile it felt like we kept talking abou
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Nov 28, 2009
Sydney
rated it:
I had a hard time getting into this book. Right when I starting to understand who everyone was and what was going on there was a story shift. I don't feel like the characters were well developed and I had no desire to get to know them better.
Nov 05, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
above my weight class...while some of the vignettes were quite compelling, I was unable to piece the shattered narrative into a satisfying whole. "Literary" does not have to be synonymous with painful to read.
Jul 16, 2011
Flora
rated it:
It was neat to be taken into an American subculture and hierarchy that I never really thought about. Also, her writing is generally lovely, but the subplots (and main plot!) were rather difficult to keep straight.
Nov 03, 2009
Glenn
rated it:
There is a decent book somewhere in here. However, the passive tone to the narration sucks any urgency from the story. The peripheral characters are interesting and the central character is largely unlikeable. It was a quick read so I kept thinking that it would get better. It didn't.
Nov 05, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
so i won this book through goodreads and i must say i am enjoying this book already. i am only a few pages in but can't wait to read more when i get out fo work
Jan 24, 2010
Alice
rated it:
After finishing the book I'm still confused about some key characters and story line. Maybe Randall intends to be ambiguous, but I found it hard to follow. However, there were some flashbacks in the novel that were vivid and memorable. I wanted more pieces of Abel's life story, but was left with too many holes. If I could give half stars, I would give this book two and a half.
Jan 04, 2010
Michelle
rated it:
I won this book from a goodreads giveaway. Once it arrives I will read & review it. :)
Edit: Boring read! Had it not been given to me for free I would have been very disappointed.
Edit: Boring read! Had it not been given to me for free I would have been very disappointed.
Sep 02, 2011
Carmen
rated it:
This book was extremely disappointing. The concept was incredibly awesome and I was excited to read it, but the writing was absolutely terrible. It wasn't even worth finishing.
Dec 18, 2009
Christina
rated it:
Did not like this book. The only reason it got one star is because the premise was a good one, but the way in which it was delivered was in poor taste.
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