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jennybeastie's review
3.0
Things I liked: written by a descendant of Madam CJ Walker. That is amazing. The story of Madam CJ Walker's life, in general, and the emphasis on her commitment to giving back to the community. She is a tremendous figure, and an astonishing woman.
Things I wasn't so sure about -- there's a lot of assumed emotion that is written into the book, and a lot of things that are glossed over. Example of the first -- the book talks about how joyfully her family celebrated her birth. Entirely possible! But how do we know that? It's followed shortly thereafter by the deaths of parents, with no death certificate, so the author goes out of the way to mention that we can't be sure how they died, but is perfectly comfortable attributing emotions to the family. This is a small weird thing, but it adds up throughout the book and begins to strike a false note.
On the whole, a fine book, but I didn't feel very engaged by it.
Things I wasn't so sure about -- there's a lot of assumed emotion that is written into the book, and a lot of things that are glossed over. Example of the first -- the book talks about how joyfully her family celebrated her birth. Entirely possible! But how do we know that? It's followed shortly thereafter by the deaths of parents, with no death certificate, so the author goes out of the way to mention that we can't be sure how they died, but is perfectly comfortable attributing emotions to the family. This is a small weird thing, but it adds up throughout the book and begins to strike a false note.
On the whole, a fine book, but I didn't feel very engaged by it.
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