![](\"http:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/book-review-redwood-court-by-d-elana-r-a-dameron.jpg\")
By Simon Demetriou<\/p>\nBy Simon Demetriou<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve remarked before that getting hold of a poet\u2019s debut novel is a pretty safe bet that you\u2019ll have something good to read, and D\u00e9Lana R.A. Dameron\u2019s addition to this subset of my personal library does nothing to prove me wrong. In Redwood Court, Dameron weaves together a story that is all about connection and all about the everyday in which those connections that really matter are formed.The book\u2019s focus on interconnectedness starts before the story begins, since Dameron includes a character list, in which every main character is described relative to two planes of connection: how they link to \u2018matriarch\u2019 and \u2018patriarch\u2019 Weesie and Teeta Mosby; and how they link to Redwood Court, the housing development in Columbia, SC, that Weesie and Teeta have called home since the early days of their marriage.The voice of the novel is Mika, Weesie and Teeta\u2019s granddaughter, but the novel\u2019s soul of Teeta, so it is fitting that the book opens with Mika reporting Teeta\u2019s words in the face of Mika\u2019s homework assignment to construct a family tree and procure an artefact that ties back to her origins. Teeta\u2019s assertions that \u2018it\u2019s not a matter of blood relations so much as a matter of who brought up who? Who protected who? Who survived with who?\u2019, that \u2018waving somebody else\u2019s flag ain\u2019t gone give me more purpose than the one I waved in the wars I fought\u2019, and that Mika has \u2018all these stories inside you \u2013 that\u2019s what we have to pass on\u2019 set the emotional and ideological touchstones for the rest of the novel.Whether it\u2019s Weesie\u2019s passions for gossip and for supporting those in the Redwood Court community, or Major \u2013 Mika\u2019s father \u2013 realising that \u2018Mr Mosby [Teeta] had called me \u201cson\u201d for more years than my own father was in my life\u201d, the love binding family and community together is consistently moving in Dameron\u2019s tenderly understated writing. Of course, this love matters more for the fact that Redwood Court was designed as an all-black subdivision, and every one of Dameron\u2019s characters lives with the micro-aggressions (and straight-up aggressions) that permeate their lives in America. When a distant cousin asks of Redwood Court, \u2018Is it our corner of the world or a ghetto that white folks want to corral us into like them concentration camps?\u2019, we\u2019re forced to reckon with the deeper question of whether finding joy in what you\u2019re allowed in a system that is built to contain and oppress you, makes you part of the problem. The question is never answered, but it lingers as we refocus on the sheer necessity of the joy that connection brings, no matter the cost or context, is a powerful literary achievement.Follow the
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D\u00e9Lana R.A. Dameron’s debut novel, “Redwood Court,” focuses on the theme of connection within a community and family in Columbia, SC, particularly through the lives of the characters linked to the matriarch and patriarch, Weesie and Teeta Mosby, and their residence, Redwood Court. The story is narrated by their granddaughter, Mika, who explores the importance of non-blood relations, personal history, and community support amidst the backdrop of an all-black subdivision facing racial micro-aggressions. The novel addresses the complexities of finding joy and purpose within a system designed to oppress, highlighting the significance of love and connection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2460,1201,2458,932,3,2459,250,658,185,429,720,1358,380,457,18,2366],"class_list":["post-4628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-community","tag-community-support","tag-connection","tag-court","tag-cyprus","tag-family","tag-google","tag-history","tag-main","tag-marriage","tag-rest","tag-support","tag-us","tag-white","tag-world","tag-writing"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n