My Monticello is a short novel ( less than 200 pages) but it packs a punch.
Set in a fictional near future Da’Naisha and her community are driven out of their Carolina neighbourhood by white supremacist gangs after the American economy has gone into free fall. They take refuge in Monticello, the former plantation of President Jefferson, terrified about what will happen next.
Da’Naisha is a descendent of Jefferson from his relationship with Sally Hemings, who was one of his slaves, so she has a particularly complex relationship with the house. As they use the finery the house has to offer, they are constantly reminded of the slaves that sustained Jefferson’s life there. They soon realise that their safety is a mirage and they will have to prepare to fight for their lives.
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is a fine writer, she handles the story with gravitas and rigour, never allowing the terror and hysteria of the characters’ situation to overwhelm the novel. She interweaves a love triangle between Da’Naisha, her white college boyfriend and her ex cleverly into the story and uses it to highlight the complexity of relationships when colour, education and ambition are involved. Da’Naisha’s relationship with her dying grandmother, MaVoilet is movingly portrayed, who is depending on who?
The book ends suddenly with no resolution but it leaves you with much to consider and fear for our future, but also with hope that there are strong activists in our world who will continue to make a difference.
Thank you to #penguinbooks for inviting me to read this ARC
#netgalley

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is harrowing, brilliant, apocalyptic.

Her world is turned upside down by white supremacists in the night with flaming torches and threats to kill. University student Da'Naisha Love is forced to flee from her home in darkness with her aging grandmother, her boyfriend and neighbours including her former boyfriend.

They find refuge in Monticello, the estate of former founding father Thoms Jefferson. Da'Naisha knows her heritage well from her late mother but has never spoken about it publicly until she shares it with her refugee group in this auspicious location.

Jocelyn Nicole Johnson's My Monticello is harrowing but very brilliantly told. It is a history lesson for those of us unfamiliar with Thomas Jefferson's story but also it foretells a very dark future that we must all ensure does not become true!

The ARC I received did not include other stories, like many people here are referring to in their reviews, so I can only judge this on what I read. Maybe the UK edition of this book will consist only of ‘My Monticello’? I have to amit that I found the first half a bit slow and I couldn’t really get into it. The second half was far beter and high paced. All im all an important and interesting novella.
Thank you Harvill Secker and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is the powerful and moving story of Da’Neisha and her beloved grandmother, MaViolet as they take refuge in Thomas Jefferson’s plantation house, Monticello, high on a hill. White supramacists have forced them from their home and now rule the streets. Da’Neisha and a group of racially mixed former neighbours, friends and strangers can look down and see their city ablaze. She doesn’t know if it’s happening all over America or just in Virginia but it began with storms followed by the poer supplies going down.
Da’Neisha regards Monticello as hers. She used to work there and knows it well. But there’s an irony in them taking refuge in a plantation house owned by a man who once owned 130 slaves. Da’Neisha’s family are descendants of Sally Hemings who was a slave and bore Jefferson 4 children, all of whom were freed from slavery but had to leave Virginia to remain so. There is no record of Sally’s thoughts. This makes Da’Neisha have a very real connection to the estate.
Over the next 19 days, more come to join them and they begin to coalesce as a group and to make plans. Initially they want to go home but soon begin to realise that this won’t happen. And a black man is sent up from the city as an emissary to give them a stark warning of what is to come. But the group or community intend to make their stand in a place that is symbolic to both sides.
I felt that Da’Neisha had a very individual voice. She was aware of her lineage as MaViolet had told her about it and was proud of it. Da’Neisha leaves a record of the group in a book in Jefferson’s library for someone to find later and know that they were there and who they were. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of them exploring the estate; the gift shop, the rooms, the slave burial ground as they assessed what would be useful to them while keeping watch. It isn’t long before they become a small community.
But the main story arc is race in the USA and what happens when it breaks down. Da’Neisha has a white boyfriend, Knox, she was studying at university until war broke out but has maintained links in the neighbourhood and she’s scared for her baby. The book also discusses slavery in that Sally Hemings, as a child, was given with her family as a wedding gift from Jefferson’s father-in-law like ‘a set of silver platters.’ There was also the complicated family relationships that could result with plantation owners sleeping with their slaves. As Sally’s story becomes more widely known, a tour is created in which visitors could pay extra to approach the house through ‘the enslaved people’s entrance.’ This was one of the strongest elements in the novella. However, there was a love triangle which I didn’t feel added much to the plot. But there was real poignancy when MaViolet dies and is buried on the estate.
I read the stand alone novella and at its cliffhanger ending I wanted to know what happened next? Would they survive? I wanted them to.

My thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for an ARC.

Well written story about American history,

The authors passion for the subject is clear and I like the way the house is cleverly used in the plot.

Ambitious writing, worth a read.

This is an utterly astonishing book which is both highly imaginative and deeply engaged with America's troubled past, present and future. The novel is short, pacy and action-packed, but written in stunning prose which is frequently moving and profound.

'My Monticello' opens with what would be the climax of many novels: the narrator and her neighbours from Charlottesville, Virginia, fleeing in an abandoned bus from a violent attack on their street by white supremacists, and seeking refuge in Monticello, the historic hilltop home of Thomas Jefferson. We are thus immediately catapulted into a post-apocalyptic version of the near future in which racial tensions have escalated to the level of civil war.

The version of America which Jocelyn Nicole Johnson depicts is firmly rooted in its past, however; the narrator, Da'Naisha is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, who was his slave, so there is a sense of reclamation in Da'Naisha and her grandmother MaViolet seeking refuge on their ancestral home. This allows for an exploration of intergenerational trauma, as Da'Naisha reflects that "I inherited my knowing from Momma, and from MaViolet before her: I was born knowing." Elsewhere, describing the white supremacists, she reflects ""They thought we owed them. They believed their security depended on making sure we never felt safe, not even in our own bodies."

There are insights like this throughout the novel, which often make for uncomfortable reading, and yet there is also something hugely redemptive about the love with which Da'Naisha writes about her fellow fugitives. Johnson creates a sense of hope through the fragile community which is formed at Monticello, the bonds of love between them and their determination to resist the evil which is never far away from them.

This is one of the most powerful and brilliantly original novels about race in America I have read, which packs a huge amount into its slender page count. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review.

This slim novella details several characters as they try to make sense of the inequalities and ideas of belonging that surround them.

Our main character finds out she is a relative of a former president, but being a Black woman, she is not believed because it doesn't match up with what people see, but it shapes a large part of how she sees the world, trying to find where she fits and who she can trust.

There is a touching scene towards the end concerning a big decision that the main character has to make, which is dealt with deftly and powerfully.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For me a short story lives or dies on its plot, this either catches me or the story simply passes me by. On the other hand I enjoy novels the most when strong character development meets great dialogue – a good plot helps, but I can live without it. So where does a novella sit? Well, I think it needs an element of both, and that’s tricky one to pull off.

Set in Virginia, it starts with a community of black people being evicted from their homes by a violent group of white supremacists. They are chased out of town and forced to gather together in the former home of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence. Will they be safe here? They’re not sure but it increasingly looks like they’re going to have to defend their position against an overwhelming opposing force. The state has some history with race divide and the Unite the Right rally, which took place in Charlottesville in 2017, might have provided some stimulus for this tale.

The action here takes place in the near future, a time in which storms have created enough chaos for social breakdown to occur (global warming is hinted at as the cause). And it’s all energy at the outset as we are introduced a significant number of characters. We see the story unfold through the eyes of Da’Naisha a young university student who is a descendent of Jefferson’s (through his relationship with a biracial woman slave called Sally Hemings). But after the drama of opening scene the pace slows significantly until, belatedly, there’s a rapid build-up to a crescendo finish.

So what to make of this one? The history is interesting and it pushed me to undertake some background research in order to flesh out which elements here are factual – the answer being quite a few. But my major grumble is that there were just too many people who I met only infrequently in these pages. Consequently, I found it hard to empathise with the plight of most of them. Well, that’s not quite true, I did collectively but not individually and for me that's not quite enough.

This story definitely has its merits and I learned a lot through reading it, but as a piece of entertainment (selfishly my principal goal in reading this one) it didn’t quite knit together for me. After a hectic beginning it's slow to develop and though I was eventually moved by what took place it took a long time for me to reach this level of engagement. Da’Naisha is the character who is designed to draw the reader in and this did work, but dialogue is strangely absent for much of the story and when it is present it consists mainly of one-liners and the odd casual comment. Therefore, I can only award this one three stars, though I predict I might be an outlier in rating this one so modestly.

My Monticello is a thought-provoking and damning indictment of race relations in the USA.

Set in a near future, law and order in Virginia – and probably the wider US – has broken down. Rampaging mobs of white supremacists have taken over the streets. They have driven out black and minority ethnic groups – at least those who could run fast enough. A group of escapees end up together on a bus and at the suggestion of one of their number – a university student called DaNaisha – they land up in Monticello, the former home of President Thomas Jefferson.

DaNaisha, our narrator, explains that she had worked as part of the visitor experience at Monticello. She knows her way around the extensive estate, helping the group to secure the site and bunker in. The story unfolds as a fairly standard tale of a group of misfits forced to shelter in a site that is normally used for other purposes. There are elements of The New Wilderness and Station Eleven as the group battles for survival, repurposing ancient heirlooms to address current needs. DaNaisha’s grandmother, MaViolet, is unwell and needs rest in bed, so she gets Jefferson’s bizarre box bed that straddles two rooms (you have to Google it to really get it – it is too improbable to be described with words alone).

The beauty of this story is that MaViolet – and hence DaNaisha – believe they are descended from President Jefferson through the children he had with his slave, Sally Hemings. We explore Jefferson’s somewhat ambiguous relationship with slavery. He apparently called for its abolition while owning slaves himself. He had children through what seemed to be an enduring relationship with Hemings, promised the children would be freed, yet they lived much of their lives in bondage. Jefferson believed in the inherent superiority of white people and believed that if/when slavery was abolished, it would be necessary for the emancipated people to leave because he believed the legacy of oppression could only end in violence. So here we are, with Jefferson’s heirs working as tour guides in his estate, now claiming the estate for themselves and for their own purposes. This makes one wonder how we should view the founding fathers; how today’s African Americans can relate to American history; and what their legacy should be in a society that was built on their labour. There are no easy answers, and Jefferson was right, at least, in recognising that master and slave were going to struggle to create a society that was shared on equal terms given the unequal starting points.

Running alongside these questions of legacy, My Monticello depicts a love triangle as DaNaisha finds herself cloistered with her current (white) partner, Knox, and her former (black) lover Devin. This offers a clear metaphor as DaNaisha has to choose between a future that is true to her heritage or one which gives her a stake in the white entitlement of successful, corporate America. She is genuinely torn, and the denouement of the story is the choice she makes.

This is such a clever work, mixing despair with optimism; juxtaposing squatting with claiming of rights. DaNaisha is a bright, articulate and very imperfect spokesperson for a generation of young, black Americans trying to reconcile a painful past with hopes for a future, set against a backdrop of an America in which they are often not welcome. Please read this fantastic work.

Note: it seems the US edition of My Monticello is a collection of six short works. The text I have read contains only My Monticello itself and not the other five works.

I think the cover of this book is quite striking and certainly attracts your eye to it!
I would say the female featured on the cover is meant to be the main character in the book, Da’Naisha Love. The story is told from her point of view and you can really visualise what she sees as it is describes in the book quite easily.

There have been awful storms that have felled historic trees and flooded important buildings. The power just couldn’t cope and when the power failed and the mobile phone network went down, jets and helicopters fell from the sky. If all that wasn’t enough to cope with, the racism and racial attacks have rapidly increased. Da’Naisha had been living with her boyfriend Knox, but she fled to check up on her beloved grandmother MaViolet, who lived in a fairly poor part of the area. MaViolet had brought Da’Naisha up in that same neighbourhood were those that lived there didn’t have much but they got on together and helped each other where and when they could. After checking on the woman that raised her, Da’Naisha attempted to get back on campus but when she came across barricades and students guarding them that would not let her back in, they verbally and physically abused her shouting and spitting at her. These same students she had attended classes with until now. Da’Naisha returns to MaViolets and that’s where she is when the real unrest begins with men arriving at dusk singing the Star spangled banner at the top of their voices brandishing fire torches and guns. When Da’Naisha hears the familiar voice of Devin shouting go, go! Da’Naisha helps MaViolet and a few others onto “the Jaunt” a small minibus that they use to take the older folk on trips/jaunts. Devin and his twin cousins Elijah and Ezra keep the men at bay returning fire until everyone is on the jaunt and ready to get out of there. Da’Naisha drives, she has no idea where to go, just to get away from the angry mob! Eventually they end up at the Piedmont mountains, at Monticello. The very house/plantation that Thomas Jefferson designed himself. The irony is not lost on MaViolet or on Da’Naisha as they are descendants of Sally Hemmings a slave and mistress to Thomas Jefferson himself!! Thankfully one of the three guards still at their posts recognises Da’Naisha as she had worked there over the summer.

I don’t want to give anymore away really but the story tells how the group of people strive to keep together and survive and protect themselves. The book deals with a lot, racism, both those against Da’Naisha and the fleeing group, and those who show racism and prejudice against Knox as he is not like them. He could easily pass as white as a few of the others could but why should they have to hide their heritage! The book also talks about slavery, and Da’Naisha’s family connections to Thomas Jefferson, though neither she nor MaViolet make a big deal about it. All those taking refuge at Monticello treat the place with respect and they do well, just when you relax as they have made their own community and becoming cleverly self sufficient, then those who wish to wreck everything rear their ugly heads and things go rapidly wrong.

I also really enjoyed the different characters within the book. I loved the respectfulness of the younger generation had for MaViolet. How when she is really ill, they all visit her and try to help in any way they can. I have to admit to filling up with tears when I read certain parts of the book concerning MaViolet. MaViolet is a strong, proud woman and is loved by a lot of the characters in the book. If she has something to sy she says it, she doesn’t sugarcoat it, she tells it like it is.

The issues that Da’Naisha is going through really pull you in, I really felt her dilemma between the two males in her life. Devin, the boy from the neighbourhood she has grown up with and had a “on, of, briefly back on which seriously complicates things now with the other man in her life Knox. They both want to protect her, both care, probably even truly love her, Devin being the “bad boy” and Knox the good, safer option. Who will she choose and will the one she chooses still want to be with her when she reveals the awkward but probably more prevalent than anyone ever reveals situation, she has found herself in?

My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were it certainly left me wanting more, and I think I would check out other titles written by this author in the future. The book gave me the same sort of feeling as I had when I watched the movie “The Hate You Give” (I know it was in book format first and written by Angie Thomas). It was a short book that covered a lot of large concerns that are still raging issues

Summing up I found this book an interesting, rather quick read. It left me wanting to know more about all the individual characters and their lives, the choices they had made and would go on to make. I wanted to know more about Devin & his cousins lives before they went to Monticello. There were other interesting family groups and other single characters that I felt had more to tell and give the reader.

There is so much to love in this short, moving novel: its quiet, unassuming beauty; its relentless plot; its strong characters; its nuanced interrogation of what we inherit from our forebears; and the central question it poses: what do we choose to do when the world around us is burning? My Monticello is deeply rooted in American history, revolving as it does around the legacy of slavery and the very contemporary violence of white supremacists, but its accents are universal. Through her central character, a descendant of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson interrogates who we are and what makes us. The cruelty and animalistic behaviour directed towards the Black characters in this novel is described as exactly what it is: a cruelty towards humanity as a whole. To this ugliness, My Monticello responds with the ability to keep seeing love and beauty, as well as with the fierce willingness to not give up and fight, even when the battle seems hopeless. A truly astonishing debut.

This is a powerful indictment of present-day America and its racial politics, and Johnson imbues it with passion and fire. All the same, for such a short piece, a long short story or novella, there are places where the pacing falls apart and could do with some editorial tightening. The sort of love triangle feels particularly unsubtle and YA, though it's clear to see where the book wanted to go with it. What I liked best is the figurative use of Monticello, the house belonging to Jefferson and where he both kept slaves and impregnated one whose descendants are at the heart of the book. The disputed nature of American history, who 'owns' Monticello and who are its descendants are where the interests and weight of this story lay for me.

My Monticello is a suspenseful novella that presents us with a scarily imaginable scenario (given all the alt-right & neo-nazi rallies that have happened in the last couple of years & the Capitol assault) where a group of violent white supremacists engulf Charlottesville. Our narrator, Da'Naisha Love, escapes the violence and finds a momentary refugee in Monticello, which happens to be Thomas Jefferson's historic plantation. Alongside her are strangers, her white boyfriend, her elderly grandmother, and other people from her neighbourhood. Over the course of nineteen days, this cobbled group tries to carry on. Their fear is palpable, and more than once they find themselves faced with possible threats from the outside. Tensions run high and various members within the group inevitably find themselves disagreeing over what to do.

Da'Naisha also happens to be a descendant of Jefferson and Sally Hemings, and her ancestry makes her view Monticello through a very specific lens. Throughout the course of the novella, Da'Naisha also reflects on racism in America, slavery, white supremacy, and interracial relationship. Also, that this group has found refuge from white supremacists in a former plantation adds further complexity to their circumstances.

While I appreciated Da'Naisha’s piercing commentary, I did find her, and every other character, to be very paper-thin. So much so that they didn’t really strike me as characters but names on a page. The narrative is not particularly concerned or interested in fleshing them out but in addressing issues related to race and American history. Which, as I said above, I did find compelling, however, at heart, I am drawn to character-driven stories, and in this regard, this novella just wasn’t it. There is also some attempt at drama involving Da'Naisha, her bf, and the man she, unbeknownst to him, cheated on him with (who of course happens to be there as well).
Lastly, the lack of quotation marks...ugh. It just put me off reading, to be honest. This stylistic choice didn't seem particularly necessary/fitting for this kind of novella.
While I wasn’t blown away by My Monticello, I am curious to read this author’s other stories (which were sadly not included in my arc copy) and I would probably still recommend this to other readers.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Set in a dystopian near future in Virginia US we follow the lives of a group of residents who have had to flee their neighbourhood to escape radical violence. They seek refuge in Monticello, the historic slave plantation of Thomas Jefferson, of which or narrator is a descendent. It's a story of racism past and present but also a love story . It's a short read but one which will transport you into the characters lives and i read this over the course of an afternoon, thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking .

Monticello is a Palladian mansion in Charlottesville, Virginia, the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson who is estimated to have had about 130 slaves there. This includes Sally Hemings, a biracial slave who bears him six children which is proven by DNA. This novella is narrated by Da’Naisha Hemings Love and tells of a shocking dystopian world set at some time in the future. Da’Naisha and her grandmother MaViolet and a racially mixed group of residents of First Street are driven from their homes by a machine gun toting group of white suprematists. Along with Da’Naisha’s white boyfriend Knox, they flee, fearing for their lives and eventually seek shelter and safety at Monticello. This tells the story of their nineteen days there.

First of all, what a powerful yet also very poignant debut which not only makes you think but also feel something deep inside. We witness the tension and unravelling of the group caused by their fear, pain and panic and then how they come together as one in a bid for survival. Whilst it’s a deeply disturbing story, it’s also a story of love, in particular of Da’Naisha and MaViolet but also between Naisha and Knox, black and white love in the midst of a world going up in flames. To set the novel in Monticello is a symbolic master stroke, for what it represents and stands for in the world of Then of Jefferson and what is unfolding in the Now. The descriptions of the house and how they utilise it in their quest is vividly done as they plot and plan to outwit those hell bent on their destruction The unfolding story strikes deep into your soul as it should, it’s horrifying heart in your mouth reading and extremely unsettling and is written very movingly. The end is terrific, terrifying and mind blowing. What a superb debut which chimes a warning bell for us all.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Vintage, Harvill Secker for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

4-5 stars 4

In this utterly possible, plausible, and propulsive dystopian novel, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson gives us a first-person narrator, Da'Naisha (Naisha) Love, who tells us about being run out of her home and her life, and ending up with several others seeking shelter at Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson. It's only fitting, or perhaps ironic, that she and her Grandmother should land there, given that Jefferson not only owned her ancestors, but was an ancestor. Thus, a place of torment is now a temporary refuge.

The story begins with things literally shutting down. Storms ever increasing in number and severity, corrupted power grids, and a literal breakdown of civilization. Those thugs with tiki torches and polo shirts who marched in Charlottesville a few years ago? They are back, and they are taking over. There is no room in their world for anyone like Naisha, or anyone who would ally themselves with her.

This is a short novel, and almost unbearably tense, as you know that those monsters down in town are not going to allow this little group of folks to remain at Monticello for long. Every page is one page closer to an inevitable showdown. As a decent person, if you're a decent person, you hate that it's coming, you are outraged that it's coming, and are powerless over the pull of the pages that takes you to it.

I've been to Monticello twice, though the last time was more than 30 years ago now. The landmarks (the welcome center from which the buses drive up to the mansion, and the cemetery where Jefferson is buried, as examples) are still recognizable to me, however, and as I read the story, I was taken back there. Naisha Love reminded me of the beauty of the place, even as she narrated a tale absolutely soaked in fear.

This was the first book I've read by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, but by no means the last. What an incredible voice she has; I can't wait to see what she does next.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to read this title ahead of publication. My review is of the novel, and not the collection of short stories that others seem to have read. I apologise if my review causes any confusion.

My Monticello is set a fictional version of Charlottesville, USA when a brutal terrorist attack is launched by white supremecists. For nineteen days, a group of residents flee their homes to escape the danger and take refuge in the historic plantation once owned by Jefferson, and the ancestor of Da'Naisha who is now hiding there. As they struggle to survive not only their new companions and their unexpected homelessness, but their fears that their home will never be the same again,

Strikingly poignant, Johnson shines a light on the racism and prejudice that is growing not just in the US but in all shadowy corners of the globe. Each character brings their own beautiful personalities, their own set of struggles from falling in love with the wrong people to feeling lost in the world and the group grow into their own type of family in such a wonderful way - bringing just a glimmer of hope to a hopeless world that if we just try a little harder for each other, we can pull through anything.

Of course this was deeply unsettling, I think there was a part of me that wasn't sure how to feel about using the Charlottesville attacks as a basis for a fictional story, but the uncomfortable truth is this story holds important social relevance especially right now and definitely deserves a spot on your reading list.

Set in a dystopian near-future, this novella tells of white supremacists taking over a black and mixed race community in Virginia and what happens to a small group of neighbours who flee their town and take refuge in what was once the residence of Thomas Jefferson and is now a museum. Johnson's writing is vivid and bold. An impressive debut.

My thanks to Random House UK, and NetGalley for this ARC.

I love this book. It was smart, funny, and full of rich, vivid characters that stayed with me long after I had finished reading it. I would highly recommend it and, indeed, will be buying it for all of my friends as soon as I can.

Naisha and her boyfriend are visiting her beloved grandmother when First Street is filled with marauding white supremacists, storming the neighbourhood in their SUVs, armed to the teeth. They’ve no choice but to run, three young black men fending off their attackers as they board an abandoned bus. Naisha drives towards Monticello, home to Thomas Jefferson and his many slaves, the ancestor of MaViolet and Naisha. At first, the company stations itself at Monticello’s welcome pavilion, unwilling to breach this bastion of the nation, but as the days wear on they make their way up the hill to the house. After a disastrous foray, it’s clear the city’s mayhem has only become worse. Nothing to be done but prepare to fight as the mob inches towards their refuge.

Johnson’s choice of venue is potently symbolic as is Naisha and MaViolet’s lineage, descendants of one of the nation’s founding fathers and his slave Sally Hemings. Without explicitly referencing the 2017 Charlottesville riots, the subject of Donald Trump's infamous, provocative remarks, she unfolds events from Naisha’s perspective, a bright young woman whose very presence at a prestigious university offends right wing extremists, choosing to give her a white liberal boyfriend. All of this could very easily have backfired but Johnson handles her subject deftly, telling her story in vivid prose against a backdrop of social disintegration, pulling the thread of suspense taut as the novella edges towards its conclusion. An audacious debut, daring and ambitious, which deserves the praise heaped upon it,