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mementomorivv's review against another edition
Read this for class. The amount of uncensored slurs was completely unnecessary no matter the authors intent.
A complete failure on the publishers part was letting a white woman narrate the audiobook. As a Black reader, I hated having to hear and read the n-word multiple times.
A complete failure on the publishers part was letting a white woman narrate the audiobook. As a Black reader, I hated having to hear and read the n-word multiple times.
nderiley's review against another edition
4.0
A dark mark on history that needs to be remembered. Part memoir, part history, Green strikes a good balance of covering important events while maintaining a personal connection.
drbatfcc's review against another edition
4.0
Until hearing this author speak at a book event, I knew nothing of this particular story. Important account of an educational and social injustice.
jennymock's review
4.0
The information was incredibly useful thanks to the author’s thorough research. I definitely want to visit the Moton Museum. I struggled with the book’s combined memoir/reporting format.
brighteyes1178's review
3.0
This book is annoying. It's a great story, yet is constantly interrupted by the author trying to make sure she gets into every paragraph that she is not racist and by the way, she has a brown husband and mixed-race children. I wanted less of her angst and more of the stories of the people who were denied an education by the segregationist closing of the public schools for five years.
As I was coincidentally reading this in the two weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, I was struck by the parallel of students advocating for change. The black Prince Edward County teenagers became part of Brown v. Board of Education; maybe the Florida students can also cause significant and lasting change.
As I was coincidentally reading this in the two weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, I was struck by the parallel of students advocating for change. The black Prince Edward County teenagers became part of Brown v. Board of Education; maybe the Florida students can also cause significant and lasting change.
sara_hudson's review
3.0
A fascinating story that drives home the fact that the battle for desegregation just wasn't that long ago. The author walks a fine line between personal memoir and historical account, and sometimes the memoir side gets a bit too self-involved. The most compelling parts are the reflections of the Black residents who were so deeply impacted by the overt, rampant, and unrelenting racism in their community.
retiredlibrarylady's review
4.0
Clearly written memoir and history; written by a journalist so it's an easier read. Well documented survey of the Moton school walkout and the subsequent civil rights activities and pushback from the white community in Farmville and Prince Edward. A must read for those struggling to understand and deal with the racial divide that still exists in Virginia.
amycrea's review
3.0
I think this is an important and worthy topic, about which I knew little before I read the book. It's also good in that the author looks not only at what happened back in the 50s and 60s, but what is still happening in small southern towns today. That said, it would have been so much better if the author, who is white and whose grandparents were involved in the movement to keep schools segregated, didn't spend so much time trying to convince the reader that she's much more evolved than her grandparents. I never questioned that she wasn't--the whole tone of the book makes clear that she thinks what happened to black students in this county is abominable. After a while it starts to feel like she's trying to apologize for her grandparents, who are no longer around to question or apologize themselves (assuming they would have). More time on topic, less time on memoir, would have been better.
harridansstew's review
3.0
A story I didn't know! I, like many reviewers here, felt the narrator was a weak point, but it's worth reading. Recommend.