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A review by thedailydiva
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Hmmmm…
This is a difficult book to rate.
Is it well written? Yes! Is the storyline compelling? Absolutely, how could you not route for a Mother’s Quest to locate her children? Did I learn anything new about this time period? No. But this is going to be subjective. I read a lot of slave stories. It happens to be a favorite genre as I’ve personally searched for answers to my ancestral timeline. So reading this book, while interesting, didn’t teach me anything new.
Books, like any art, are subjective. I think my biggest disconnect was with the characters. Unfortunately, the main character Rachel, lacked depth or any believable likability other than my natural pathos toward a suffering Black Woman on a noble search for her family and legacy. But that yearning has lil to do with the character and more to do with my endearment to any suffering maternal figure. That emotion comes from me, not the character introduced on the page, if that makes sense.
I enjoyed the story, as it progressed. The overall story arch finally picking up and my yearning for the characters happy ending. The pace of the story was slow and I found myself in some spots a lil bored. Wanting more from the story than the carefully crafted convenience. Everything happened almost too neatly for the time period presented. Especially with my knowledge of its relentless brutality, specifically in the Caribbean Slave Trade.
This one just didn’t hit home for me. Sadly.
This is a difficult book to rate.
Is it well written? Yes! Is the storyline compelling? Absolutely, how could you not route for a Mother’s Quest to locate her children? Did I learn anything new about this time period? No. But this is going to be subjective. I read a lot of slave stories. It happens to be a favorite genre as I’ve personally searched for answers to my ancestral timeline. So reading this book, while interesting, didn’t teach me anything new.
Books, like any art, are subjective. I think my biggest disconnect was with the characters. Unfortunately, the main character Rachel, lacked depth or any believable likability other than my natural pathos toward a suffering Black Woman on a noble search for her family and legacy. But that yearning has lil to do with the character and more to do with my endearment to any suffering maternal figure. That emotion comes from me, not the character introduced on the page, if that makes sense.
I enjoyed the story, as it progressed. The overall story arch finally picking up and my yearning for the characters happy ending. The pace of the story was slow and I found myself in some spots a lil bored. Wanting more from the story than the carefully crafted convenience. Everything happened almost too neatly for the time period presented. Especially with my knowledge of its relentless brutality, specifically in the Caribbean Slave Trade.
This one just didn’t hit home for me. Sadly.