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book_bear's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
Fabulous book! Very good writing! It's about slavery, so of course horrible things were done in this book, so keep that in mind. It is still a wonderful book that opens your eyes to the lives of slaves and women in the late 1700s.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking
jeisel's review against another edition
4.75
4.5 rounded up! I loved this book from the first few pages. I fell in love with all the characters in this book and felt that I was living with them and part of their family. This book is set during slavery times and on a plantation and as so can be hard to read at times, but even so I loved this book! I can’t necessarily say whether I felt like the ending was a bit more rushed or I just wanted to see it played out differently but for that reason it wasn’t a full 5 star but still a really incredible read!!
joanklko's review against another edition
4.0
I found it somewhat similar to The Help only I downgraded it one star because there was absolutely no humor. Very moving though.
poppy4378's review against another edition
5.0
I love historical fiction and especially the ones concerning slavery. They always have such strong and memorable characters. Kathleen Grissom's first book comes with a little twist of a poor white girl brought in to work along with the other slaves. The story is incredible taking the the reader on twists and turns so unpredictable that you wouldn't want to keep the book down. The characters are so real - you really bond with them as pages are turned. Like most of us, they too have their flaws and yet can be endearing. Many of them reminded me of some of the people in my life. The book paints vivid pictures without using too many words. Though it depicts a lot of suffering and cruelty, this book is indeed an ode to triumph of humanity.
clay1914's review against another edition
4.0
It took a minute to get over the dialect in the audiobook voices sounding like caricatures. Past that, I did love this story and the full circle elements of the families.
kziehl's review against another edition
2024: It was the opening chapter of this book and it a flash forward... it stuck with me and informed me of future events. And though I am glad for I would not want to read that actual part in context, but also sad for I will not likely read this book. Given the great ratings, I thought it was me but looking at some of the reviews, there those who felt that this was one tragedy after another. That's not my reading jam.
kimreadz's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a little hard for me to get into at first, though once I did, I was hooked. It took me only 2 days to finish. There were two reasons from my difficulty. This first was that I had just finished a book (Playing St. Barbara) that refused to let me go! (That is a good thing!) The second was I was convinced this book was going to end badly and I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with the tragedy. I had a foreboding all through the book, and at times, especially in the last 50 pages, I would put the book down and walk away because I really didn’t want to read the ending.
That aside, I did enjoy this book, as did the majority of my book club. It is well written and definitely kept my interest. While some have compared it to The Help, I really would not make that comparison. I can’t really tell you this was an accurate portrayal of plantation life in the late 1700s, because I really don’t know. I could believe that while not everything that happened here was common on every plantation, all of the events COULD have happened on a plantation somewhere. I think the author did a good job of showing extremes. Will represented the very kind overseer; Rankin the evil overseer. The Captain is the benevolent master; his son Marshall is the cruel master.
The book also did a nice job of showing the powerlessness of women and slaves in the early days of our country. While the house slaves knew something terrible was happening and tried to bring it to their master’s attention, he brushed them off, and they had no way of helping after that. Livia was kind and wanted to maintain the friendly relationship she had with the slaves, but her husband was also her master, and he forbid it.
The biggest frustration with the story was all the mis-communication. There were a lot of ‘what-ifs’ and a lot of possibilities for different outcomes if the characters could have been more honest. In some cases, as mentioned before with the slaves, there was no power to speak up, but in others, there were assumptions made that turned out to not be true, and decisions made based on false assumptions. It would have been an entirely different story, but probably much less memorable.
This was a great pick for our book club. The discussion pretty much took off on its own, however there are discussion questions at the back of the book if you need a starting point for your discussion. You can visit the author’s website for photos and background info.
That aside, I did enjoy this book, as did the majority of my book club. It is well written and definitely kept my interest. While some have compared it to The Help, I really would not make that comparison. I can’t really tell you this was an accurate portrayal of plantation life in the late 1700s, because I really don’t know. I could believe that while not everything that happened here was common on every plantation, all of the events COULD have happened on a plantation somewhere. I think the author did a good job of showing extremes. Will represented the very kind overseer; Rankin the evil overseer. The Captain is the benevolent master; his son Marshall is the cruel master.
The book also did a nice job of showing the powerlessness of women and slaves in the early days of our country. While the house slaves knew something terrible was happening and tried to bring it to their master’s attention, he brushed them off, and they had no way of helping after that. Livia was kind and wanted to maintain the friendly relationship she had with the slaves, but her husband was also her master, and he forbid it.
The biggest frustration with the story was all the mis-communication. There were a lot of ‘what-ifs’ and a lot of possibilities for different outcomes if the characters could have been more honest. In some cases, as mentioned before with the slaves, there was no power to speak up, but in others, there were assumptions made that turned out to not be true, and decisions made based on false assumptions. It would have been an entirely different story, but probably much less memorable.
This was a great pick for our book club. The discussion pretty much took off on its own, however there are discussion questions at the back of the book if you need a starting point for your discussion. You can visit the author’s website for photos and background info.
goodin10tions's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Death of parent, and Colonisation