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bookwormabby54's review
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved thos book. Cussy Mary's story had me in all sorts of emotions. This book was very well researched and written beautifully.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Incest, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail
momsmagicreads's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
While The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek had echoes of The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, I found the feel and focus of this book to be quite different. While the MCs had similar struggles in their work as Packhorse Librarians across both stories, in TBWOTC, Cussy Mary had the added struggle of being "colored," although not in the way you might expect. It was this difference, and how it affects Cussy Mary in all aspects of her life, even after she is cured , that I found to be the stronger theme running throughout the book. Alongside the discrimination that Cussy Mary is subjected to, it is also a story of acceptance, love, and trust from her library patrons, schoolchildren, and her father's coworkers. The reader realizes that these do not exist simply because Cussy Mary's community is "backwoods" or unfamiliar with the social mores of the time. It is demonstrated in some tender and heartwarming scenes, primarily later in the story. Certainly, there were those who never gave up their desire to discriminate against her or take advantage of her. There were small echoes of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in the way Cussy Mary was treated by her doctor and the "specialist" that he took her to for examination . There was jealousy expressed as a "sincere" attempt to be sure laws were properly enforced. In spite of the way Cussy Mary is treated by the folks from "town," she discovers that she can use her difference to help benefit the neediest in her small community of library patrons.
Overall, I found this to be a slower paced book in the beginning and it got much more interesting to me about halfway through. For the story itself, I'd give it four stars, for my enjoyment of the writing it gets three stars. However I also want to give credit for the amount of research the author did as it relates to the disorder that affects Cussy Mary and her family.
Overall, I found this to be a slower paced book in the beginning and it got much more interesting to me about halfway through. For the story itself, I'd give it four stars, for my enjoyment of the writing it gets three stars. However I also want to give credit for the amount of research the author did as it relates to the disorder that affects Cussy Mary and her family.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Incest, Sexual assault, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Alcohol