A review by towardinfinitybooks
Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman
3.0
I'd only ever heard about the Scottsboro boys in passing before reading this book, which is shocking now that I think about it. I'd heard about the town of Scottsboro, Alabama, the setting of an infamous trial in which nine African American boys were convicted on sketchy evidence for raping two white girls. But that's really all I knew about it.
As one might expect, there's a lot more to this story. Feldman traces the incidents from aboard the freight train in 1931 on through to the many trials, reversals, and appeals of the case. She identifies the main players - the nine young men, defense counsel Sam Leibowitz, state attorney general Thomas Knight, the two young women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, and others. And she provides historical context for the events, with reference to FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, American sentiment regarding Jews and Communists, and the extreme poverty of the Great Depression. I learned a lot from this book.
At the same time, I feel a bit cheated. Feldman's book is billed as historical fiction and while it's true that the main protagonist and narrator, a female journalist, is entirely the author's creation, I felt that the book lacked a certain something. The best historical fiction novels weave fact and fiction together almost seamlessly. Here, it was as if the book was entirely fact. The fictional elements were missing.
Further, even though the story was in her own voice, the protagonist seemed two-dimensional, stiff, and cold. I didn't know her any better at the end of the book than I did at the beginning. She notes she wrote sympathetic stories about the Scottsboro boys and the two girls, but none of that emotion made an appearance in her voice. Even when discussing her own family, the protagonist is almost scientific. We are told this is what happened, but very rarely what she actually feels about it. Maybe Feldman did this deliberately. I don't think it was an effective technique, though.
I liked this book - but I didn't love it. With some books, I waver between a 3-star and 4-star rating, but not with this one. The story of the Scottsboro boys is compelling on its own, but Feldman's writing was not.
As one might expect, there's a lot more to this story. Feldman traces the incidents from aboard the freight train in 1931 on through to the many trials, reversals, and appeals of the case. She identifies the main players - the nine young men, defense counsel Sam Leibowitz, state attorney general Thomas Knight, the two young women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, and others. And she provides historical context for the events, with reference to FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, American sentiment regarding Jews and Communists, and the extreme poverty of the Great Depression. I learned a lot from this book.
At the same time, I feel a bit cheated. Feldman's book is billed as historical fiction and while it's true that the main protagonist and narrator, a female journalist, is entirely the author's creation, I felt that the book lacked a certain something. The best historical fiction novels weave fact and fiction together almost seamlessly. Here, it was as if the book was entirely fact. The fictional elements were missing.
Further, even though the story was in her own voice, the protagonist seemed two-dimensional, stiff, and cold. I didn't know her any better at the end of the book than I did at the beginning. She notes she wrote sympathetic stories about the Scottsboro boys and the two girls, but none of that emotion made an appearance in her voice. Even when discussing her own family, the protagonist is almost scientific. We are told this is what happened, but very rarely what she actually feels about it. Maybe Feldman did this deliberately. I don't think it was an effective technique, though.
I liked this book - but I didn't love it. With some books, I waver between a 3-star and 4-star rating, but not with this one. The story of the Scottsboro boys is compelling on its own, but Feldman's writing was not.