Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

I usually love historical fiction but this one took so long to get going that I struggled a lot at first. It didn’t really take off for me until about 100 pages in which is nearly halfway, and that’s why I didn’t rate it higher. The second half of the book kept me reading and I didn’t want to put it down. The historical aspects of the KY Pack Horse program and the blue people of Kentucky were fascinating as a native Kentuckian, especially because I had never heard of the former prior to reading this book. The story is sad and tells of the hardships of rural, Appalachian life in the 1930’s and 40’s with candor and grace. It definitely makes you appreciate the technological, medical, and social advancements we’ve made and just how hardy a people the folks from mining country truly are.

Content Warnings

pidgepodge's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

kbergsten's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

maddiehansen's review against another edition

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challenging sad 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? No

3.25

Content Warnings

leweylibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm a sucker for any historical fiction that involves books/libraries/etc., so I randomly downloaded this one for free through my Amazon Prime membership without even reading the description. I then much later randomly started reading it because I was bored at my boyfriend's D&D game one night. It quickly grabbed and held my interest, and the only reason I didn't finish it sooner was because I didn't want it to end.

I find the pack horse librarians endlessly fascinating, and I had absolutely no idea that "blue people" existed. I found the new element of racism and white supremacy it brought to the book incredibly thought-provoking. I'm a little bummed she ended up <Spoiler> with a kid, but I can forgive it because she did very quickly have an abortion in the beginning and this kid technically isn't hers. </Spoiler> Plus I have to imagine the loneliness of being the last of her kid and being shut out of society by so many is unbearable, and I wouldn't wish that ending on this character.

Anyway, that was a lot of rambling, but basically I really enjoyed reading this book, I think it'll continue to occupy my mind for some time, and I definitely want to read the next one!

Quotes:

For many mountainfolk, all of us around here, it was our first taste of what a library could give, a taste to be savored—one that left behind a craving for more. (6)
Being able to return to the books was a sanctuary for my heart. And a joy bolted free, lessening my own grievances, forgiving spent youth and dying dreams lost to a hard life, the hard land, and to folks’ hard thoughts and partialities. (20)
But there would never be a babe, nor another man for me. If word had reached way up here, I was certain the townsfolk had rumored that my color somehow killed Frazier—gossiped that a Blue devil had murdered a man in his marriage bed. It was a blessing, I reminded myself. No one would have me now, and I’d never be forced to marry again. My breathing slowed, and a small relief anchored that surety. (23)
I didn’t fault him, reckoning we both had disfigurements, some that didn’t have a color. (25)
I loved that the books were growing their little minds. Pa was wrong. They needed books more than anything else this place had to offer. They were starved for the learning, the know-how on leaving this hard land for a better, softer one. (71)
The boy glanced back, and the woman tightened her hold and pulled him farther down the path, but not before I saw the wide-eyed fright in his eyes, the blame of childhood nightmares. I lowered my head, grieved that I was his. (84)
My heart pained for Mama and for my ugly color and want Charlie Frazier had taken from me. There was the ugliness of the preacher, the hardness of this land, the shame weighing down my shoulders. The disgrace had fixed itself to my soul like it had life, the rawness, black and heavy like a lump of Kentucky coal that would find its sturdy way into our home. (88)
I remember Mama telling Paul when she thought I weren't listening that The female silence let those vile godless men walk free among their prey, boldly pass their sufferers on the streets of Troublesome with a slide tip to the hat, a smug pat to the crotch. (115)
What I wanted most was to be okay as a Blue. I never understood why other people thought my color, any color, needed fixing. (130)
His fear looked a lot like hatred, or something ugly that had rooted in him and his kin long before me. (140)
"...I hope you get to feeling pert soon, ma'am. I miss seeing my Bonnie Picasso." He grinned.
I stared at him blankly, and he added, "Picasso's painting of the pretty blue lady, the Woman with a Helmet of Hair that I'd seen in one of the magazines you brought us? You remind me of her. You're fine color. My woman always said God saved that best color for His home." He pointed a finger up to a patch of blue sky parting the gray clouds. "Guess He must have had Himself a little leftover." (221)
"Why couldn't you let him grow up?" I curled myself into a tight ball on the blood-soaked Kentucky soil, wailing for Henry and all the Henrys in these dark hollows who'd never be a common grown up. Stuck forever as Peter Pans. (232)

Content Warnings

rex_b20's review against another edition

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dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

a love letter to books, kentucky, and people who were wronged.

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