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A review by smartinez9
Compulsion by Martina Boone
3.0
This is a difficult rating. On the one hand, I genuinely enjoyed this—it was gloomy and fun. The classic gothic tropes, while on paper over the top (orphan sent to live with family she’s never met, in a decaying manor hiding dark secrets), fit the genre, and is always down for secret passageways and abandoned tunnels. I liked Barrie, Mark, Eight, and Pru.
My issue with the book was the lack of explicit acknowledgment that the wealth of the characters’ is literal blood money made off the backs of slaves. The fact that Cassie puts on Gone With the Wind (which is in no way criticized, other than the “genius” and revolutionary act of Rhett being played by a “light-skinned African-American boy,” with no discussion of the glorification of the antebellum South) and moans about how the “Yankees” “stole” her family’s wealth during the Civil War—wealth that they did not earn, on land that they stole—is pretty disgusting. The stereotypical Native American witch spirit and African voodoo priest are also questionable.
That said, giving the author the benefit of the doubt, Barrie does point out the hypocrisy of calling their ancestors “privateers” when they were slave-owners and thieves, and remind Eight that the “well-built” tunnel is that way because of slave labor. Also, in some ways, the fact that the family can’t leave the land and are haunted by native spirits serves as a reminder that you can erase generational trauma or pretend atrocities never happened. The irony of the Watsons not being able to leave the land they trapped slaves on feels fitting. The idea that the most important family is the one you choose has positive implications in the rejection of Emmett and Wyatt and celebration of Mark as Barrie’s real mother.
Additionally, the fact that the author was born in Prague and learned English as a second language suggests that maybe she wasn’t as acquainted with the nuances of language around race and slavery in America, such as the problematic overtones of Gone With the Wind, the hypocrisy of vilifying the “Yankees,” or what it really means to be living on a plantation, which could be understandable if she didn’t grow up immersed in US racial and political history.
My issue with the book was the lack of explicit acknowledgment that the wealth of the characters’ is literal blood money made off the backs of slaves. The fact that Cassie puts on Gone With the Wind (which is in no way criticized, other than the “genius” and revolutionary act of Rhett being played by a “light-skinned African-American boy,” with no discussion of the glorification of the antebellum South) and moans about how the “Yankees” “stole” her family’s wealth during the Civil War—wealth that they did not earn, on land that they stole—is pretty disgusting. The stereotypical Native American witch spirit and African voodoo priest are also questionable.
That said, giving the author the benefit of the doubt, Barrie does point out the hypocrisy of calling their ancestors “privateers” when they were slave-owners and thieves, and remind Eight that the “well-built” tunnel is that way because of slave labor. Also, in some ways, the fact that the family can’t leave the land and are haunted by native spirits serves as a reminder that you can erase generational trauma or pretend atrocities never happened. The irony of the Watsons not being able to leave the land they trapped slaves on feels fitting. The idea that the most important family is the one you choose has positive implications in the rejection of Emmett and Wyatt and celebration of Mark as Barrie’s real mother.
Additionally, the fact that the author was born in Prague and learned English as a second language suggests that maybe she wasn’t as acquainted with the nuances of language around race and slavery in America, such as the problematic overtones of Gone With the Wind, the hypocrisy of vilifying the “Yankees,” or what it really means to be living on a plantation, which could be understandable if she didn’t grow up immersed in US racial and political history.