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A review by shailydc
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
2.0
Very disappointing.
One of the biggest disappointments of this book was that it doesn't actually address anything about Lavinia's Irish roots and the history of how and why she is forced to be a servant. I thought that would play a big part of the story but the only importance it seemed to have was that it made her a white servant instead of a black slave.
I know one of the themes is history repeating itself but I hated that Lavinia follows in Miss Martha's footsteps - at least MM didn't grow up with the kitchen house or consider them her family. Lavinia never, not once, stands up for anyone, even though she constantly says she will.
At some point, Mama says Lavinia has the mind of a child, which somewhat helps the reader understand but doesn't completely explain how utterly clueless she is. Lavinia mentions how Jamie looks like a carbon copy of Campbell, yet she never once considers that Marshall could be the father.
I hate how universally evil Marshall turned out and that his childhood abuse was never addressed by anyone after he was sent away for school. I was hoping that at some point, something would break through to him and he would have one redeeming act to help him get back on the right track. Instead, he gets progressively more diabolical until he's just a caricature of bad.
It was so disappointing to not have a real reaction from Marshall once he finds out Belle is his half sister. After all that build up throughout the whole book, it sucked to have him find out in the middle of all the other drama at the end of the book and to have him die before he has to face the reality of his incestual rape.
I could go on about more things I didn't like but it'd be as pointless as this book. If nothing else, it did provide a great book club discussion as all the ladies in my group shared similar frustrations.
I know one of the themes is history repeating itself but I hated that Lavinia follows in Miss Martha's footsteps - at least MM didn't grow up with the kitchen house or consider them her family. Lavinia never, not once, stands up for anyone, even though she constantly says she will.
At some point, Mama says Lavinia has the mind of a child, which somewhat helps the reader understand but doesn't completely explain how utterly clueless she is. Lavinia mentions how Jamie looks like a carbon copy of Campbell, yet she never once considers that Marshall could be the father.
I hate how universally evil Marshall turned out and that his childhood abuse was never addressed by anyone after he was sent away for school. I was hoping that at some point, something would break through to him and he would have one redeeming act to help him get back on the right track. Instead, he gets progressively more diabolical until he's just a caricature of bad.
It was so disappointing to not have a real reaction from Marshall once he finds out Belle is his half sister. After all that build up throughout the whole book, it sucked to have him find out in the middle of all the other drama at the end of the book and to have him die before he has to face the reality of his incestual rape.
I could go on about more things I didn't like but it'd be as pointless as this book. If nothing else, it did provide a great book club discussion as all the ladies in my group shared similar frustrations.