Book Summary and Reviews of The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne

Book Summary

An audacious debut spanning eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee as they are repeatedly visited by the Devil.

Yetunde awakens aboard a slave ship en route to the United States with the spirit of her dead sister as her only companion. Desperate to survive the hell that awaits her at their destination, Yetunde finds help in an unexpected form—the Devil himself. The Devil, seeking a way to reenter the pearly gates of heaven, decides to prove himself to an indifferent God by protecting Yetunde and granting her a piece of his supernatural power. In return, Yetunde makes an incredible sacrifice.

Their bargain extends far beyond Yetunde's mortal lifespan. Over the next 175 years, the Devil visits Yetunde's descendants in their darkest hour of need: Lucille, a conjure woman; Asa, who passes for white; Louis and Virgil, who risk becoming a twentieth-century Cain and Abel; Cassandra, who speaks to the dead; James, who struggles to make sense of the past while fighting to keep his family together; and many others. The Devil offers each of them his own version of salvation, all the while wondering: can he save himself, too?

Steeped in the spiritual traditions and oral history of the Black diaspora, The Devil Three Times is a baptism by fire and water, heralding a new voice in American fiction.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. How might the Devil's complicated relationship with God mirror the Laurents' parent child relationships? And, more broadly, what might this indicate about Black people's relationship with the church and Christianity, in a world shaped by the legacy of colonialism and slavery?
2. Yetunde says, "My people were river people." Rivers and, more generally, bodies of water are important settings throughout The Devil Three Times. What moments at rivers or near bodies of water were especially memorable to you?
3. Lillian and Asa enter into a sexual relationship, and Asa believes himself to be deeply in love with her—even decades later, when they run away together. How does Fayne render the complexity of Asa's experience, with ...