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Pomegranate
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
9 posts | 6 read | 17 to read
A remarkable feat of literary conjuration. Jennifer Haigh, nationally bestselling author of Mercy Street The acclaimed author of The Serpents Gift returns with this gripping and powerful novel of healing, redemption, and love, following a queer Black woman who works to stay clean, pull her life together, and heal after being released from prison. Ranita Atwater is getting short. She is almost done with her four-year sentence for opiate possession at Oak Hills Correctional Center. With three years of sobriety, she is determined to stay clean and regain custody of her two children. My name is Ranita, and Im an addict, she has said again and again at recovery meetings. But who else is she? Who might she choose to become? As she claims the story housed within her pomegranate-like heart, she is determined to confront the weight of the past and discover what might lie beyond mere survival. Ranita is regaining her freedom, but shes leaving behind her lover Maxine, who has inspired her to imagine herself and the world differently. Now she must steer clear of the temptations that have pulled her down, while atoning for her missteps and facing old wounds. With a fierce, smart, and sometimes funny voice, Ranita reveals how rocky and winding the path to wellness is for a Black woman, even as she draws on family, memory, faith, and love in order to choose life. Perfect or fans of Jesmyn Ward and Yaa Gyasi, Pomegranate is a complex portrayal of queer Black womanhood and marginalization in America: a story of loss, healing, redemption, and strength. In lyrical and precise prose, Helen Elaine Lee paints a humane and unflinching portrait of the devastating effects of incarceration and addiction, and of one womans determination to tell her story.
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squirrelbrain
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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Pickpick

First book finished at Gladstone‘s reading retreat!

I loved this look at Ranita‘s life as she leaves prison, tries to get her life back on track, and tries to get her kids back.

Beautiful prose and more hopeful than I thought it might be.

Thank you for sending it to me! @Megabooks

Caroline2 Sounds good. Stacked! 👍 1mo
squirrelbrain I think you‘d love it @Caroline2 1mo
Megabooks You are so welcome! Glad you enjoyed it! 1mo
See All 6 Comments
BarbaraBB Great photo! 1mo
LeahBergen Beautiful photo! 1mo
youneverarrived Have a lovely time ❤️ 1mo
74 likes2 stack adds6 comments
blurb
squirrelbrain
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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I‘m absolutely loving this so far (at about 25% in) but I‘m also scared to keep reading it, as I get the feeling it‘s going to break my heart. 💔

@Megabooks

Megabooks So glad you‘re enjoying it. Definitely on the sadder side, though. 2mo
Soubhiville It‘s so good! One of my favorites last year. 2mo
squirrelbrain Good to know! @Soubhiville 2mo
69 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
ncsufoxes
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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Pickpick

Definitely one of my top picks for the year so far. Ranita has been released from prison after serving time for drug possession. The story navigates her experiences of reintegrating into society. Trying to find work, reconnecting with her kids/family, trying to steer clear of the people that landed her in jail. The story is about inter generational trauma, mental health, how we imprison people for drug abuse & the lasting impact that it has on so

ncsufoxes many. The inhumanity of all of it. “You‘re banished to the most barren landscape anyone could imagine. You‘re a thing, a crime, a number, beyond care and beyond hope. Punished and degraded into submission, or at least compliance. Day in and day out. And I swear genetic memory‘s for real, because it feels like you‘re reliving lifetimes of shit. Being a commodity. Being bred. Being three-fifths of a person. All of that‘s echoing, day in and day out. 8mo
ncsufoxes And when they let you out you‘re supposed to keep it together and build something from the ruins.” #bookspin #readyourkindle 8mo
CBee Sounds powerful and intense! 8mo
Cathythoughts Great review, I have it stacked already. 8mo
TheAromaofBooks Great review!! 8mo
27 likes1 stack add5 comments
blurb
Soubhiville
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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My January wrap up. The best of the month for me was Pomegranate. But there wasn‘t anything I didn‘t like.

Mimi28 I got 50 pages into Starter Villain and just had to stop. The death part was just bad for me because I am still grieving over the death of an aunt I never really reconciled with and my dad who lived in Louisiana and I have only seen twice since I was 5. It was funny kinda, but I have toooo maannnnyyyy triggers right now. I couldn‘t even keep up with the Austen thing for January, sorry. I have it on my kindle app and audio. Sorry to babble 🤧😪 10mo
Mimi28 You‘re awesome 😎 10mo
Gissy Amazing🤩📚📚📚👏👏👏👏 10mo
76 likes3 comments
review
Soubhiville
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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Pickpick

Wow! I think I chose this based on @Megabooks and @Cinfhen ‘s reviews. I picked it up on Libro.FM months ago. And it‘s definitely the best of January for me!

We see Ranita in the present as she is released from prison and starts to try to pick up the pieces of her life and reclaim her relationship to her children, and also see her as a child, teen, and young woman in Boston dealing with trauma, abuse, and addiction.

So beautiful, sad, hopeful.

Megabooks Exactly. Fantastic review! Glad you enjoyed it! 10mo
Soubhiville @Megabooks why isn‘t this book getting more attention? Thank you for your posts about it or I might not have ever found it. @Hooked_on_books I think you‘ll love this one too. 10mo
Hooked_on_books I definitely look forward to it, and even more now! A couple weeks ago, I moved it over to my cart next to my chair, hoping that would prompt me to get to it sooner than later, so we‘ll see if my tactic works. 10mo
62 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
Cinfhen
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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Pickpick

This was FANTASTIC @Megabooks 💕💕💕 I devoured the audio🎧 I loved Ranita, her family and all the supporting players in her life. Here‘s a book where the shifting timeline works SO WELL as we watch Ranita fall & rise as she attempts to regain her life that has unraveled. Beautiful prose, heartfelt characters and strong storytelling. Definitely a favorite of the year ♥️

Megabooks Yay!! Glad you loved it!! 💕💕 1y
Cinfhen I kind of want a sequel of sorts @Megabooks and I definitely want to read more by the author 1y
Cathythoughts Sounds good , stacking 👍🏻❤️ 1y
Cinfhen It‘s really good @Cathythoughts !!! 1y
72 likes3 stack adds4 comments
blurb
Cinfhen
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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LOVING this one @Megabooks
Great recommendation 😍
Audio is fantastic 🎧
The story of Ranita before and after her prison incarceration.. Hopeful and heartbreaking 💔

review
Megabooks
Pomegranate: A Novel | Helen Elaine Lee
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Pickpick

This is a sad but hopeful story of a woman moving forward from addiction and prison time. The language was beautiful. It‘s a novel you feel in your bones.

Ranita was mixed up with a bad crowd and started using heroin. She lost custody of her kids and was sent to prison. After finding love there, she starts to turn her life around, but can she survive all the pitfalls once she‘s released? I loved the flashbacks of her life before prison.

MicheleinPhilly This is on sale today for I think, $4.99. Think I‘m 1-clicking now! 1y
Megabooks @MicheleinPhilly thanks for sharing! I hope you enjoy it! 1y
squirrelbrain Great review - stacked. 1y
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Cinfhen I keep seeing this book! Definitely #stacking 1y
Megabooks @squirrelbrain @Cinfhen I think you‘d both like it! It was a worthy one to buy for full price at Parnassus! 1y
Cinfhen It‘s on #Scribd 🩷So it‘s definitely coming up soon 😁 1y
Megabooks @Cinfhen yayayay!! 1y
81 likes4 stack adds7 comments