Reviews

Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South by Winfred Rembert, Erin I. Kelly

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rhiannon123's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this book and I couldn’t put it down! So different to Book 1. I loved the playful, snarky flirting between Feyre & Rhys. Great world building and expanding on the universe.

I can see the criticisms - comparisons were too explicit between two High Lords, heavy exposition at points, and slow in the beginning. I’m hoping it doesn’t make a point to pair everyone off.

I didn’t think Tamlin would go so far to make a deal with Hybern just to get Feyre back. Shocking

teriboop's review against another edition

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5.0

A deeply moving memoir of Winfred Rembert, an African American man who grew up in Cuthbert, Georgia, and was raised by his great aunt. As a young man, he worked in the cotton fields alongside his aunt and other relatives and eventually ran off to find a better life. He became an advocate for the Civil Rights movement, working on voting rights, and suffered abuse from oppressors. He survived a near lynching and was eventually imprisoned and forced to work on a chain gang. It was during this time that two key events happened in his life. He met his future wife, and he learned to tool leather. Rembert's life took many turns after he was released from prison. He encountered some extreme highs and extreme lows. With his wife's encouragement, Winfred told the story of his life through pictures he would tool and paint into panels of leather. This book tells that story in words, utilizing the pictures of those leather panels to convey the deep emotions of struggle and survival.

This is a Pulitzer Prize winner from 2022, and it is well deserved of the honor.

Check out the documentary on Rembert titled All Me on Amazon Prime.

shannon_camposdowdy's review

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

sabesaw's review against another edition

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4.0

I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either. .

Miriam never standing up for herself when it comes to her mother in law and husband was annoying and bothersome. It made her feel like a weak person/character. It is hard to read from the POV of weak character in a cozy mystery book, especially when they are constantly being done wrong. The husband being secretive and then easily forgiven was a big eye roll as well.

All of the Spanish at first bothered me, but in the latter half of the book Miriam immediately explains what was said in Spanish. It isn't full translations, but enough to get the jist. But as other reviews have said, it was too much Spanish for non Spanish speaking people.

Miriam kind of comes off as stupid as well for not putting two in two together sooner rather than later when it comes to who the killer is. There are obvious things she witnessed that she magically forgets about. She makes some really stupid choices as well. I don't like the trope of the dumb mystery sleuth.

There were also some editing issues with the actual story. For example, when Miriam's show is put on YouTube there is a scene where the husband sees it with the son and they are talking about Miriam's show logo and the video. Then several pages later the husband has no idea what a fan is talking about and Miriam tells him all about the YouTube video as if in the last scene he didn't already congratulate her before taking her to dinner. This happened one or two other times.

I loved the food aspect. Figuring out if I was right about the murderer and seeing how things turned out with the idiot husband are the only two things that kept me wanting to read. I do plan to read the second book as I hope the series gets better. But there is a lot that could be fixed and better about the book. Weak characters and a predictable murder mystery make for a lackluster book