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A review by jenbsbooks
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
emotional
3.75
I'd had this on my list for a long time ... WHY did I think this was a P&P or "Downton Abby" type of book? Totally wrong perception on my part! This made me think of Octavia Butler's Kindred (although there's no time travel in The Kitchen House). Both address the horrors of slavery, the "relationships" between the family and the slaves, and Mr.Marshall here, has some similarities to Rufus in Kindred. We see them both as a child, then growing up, the evil as well as the tiny spots of goodness.
This has a prologue - one showing the reader a scene from much later in the book. 1810 at the opening, then going back 19 years starting chapter 1. Personally, I really dislike this technique, it's a "spoiler" ... I prefer NOT to know what it going to happen in the story. At the very end in the author's notes, there is an explanation that makes me a little more accepting of opening the book this way (she basically says that is what she wrote first, before she even had any of the rest of the story).
I had this in all three formats (audio/ebook and physical book) and went primarily with the audio. Two narrators for the two 1st person POVs, Lavinia and Belle. Laninia's POV is past tense, while Belle's is present tense. There is already a marked difference in the voice in the writing, and again in the narration, but this tense shift further differentiates the two. Basic chronological chapters (55 of them) with an author's note (included in audio) and a Reading Group Guide and Q&A with the author (in the text copies/not audio). I really wish the POVs (and dates when listed) were also listed with the chapters in the Table of Contents. Helpful for if I wanted to go back and check something, and knew which POV I was looking for. I have to manually flip through without it listed.
This kept my interest, and I cared about the characters ... so it was hard to continue, as so much of it was horrible experiences. When we "caught up" to the scene in the prologue, it was not word-for-word the prologue, slight changes ("stay here" in the prologue, "stay there" in chapter 55, and other similar/slight shifts ... ) The moment of truth, finding out who ... I had guessed it correctly.
I don't know that this will really stick in my memory, among all the other historical fiction I've read. It was good, but not one that I'd rave about. No proFanity, there is some sex, nothing written in explicit detail. There is rape. There is violence.
This has a prologue - one showing the reader a scene from much later in the book. 1810 at the opening, then going back 19 years starting chapter 1. Personally, I really dislike this technique, it's a "spoiler" ... I prefer NOT to know what it going to happen in the story. At the very end in the author's notes, there is an explanation that makes me a little more accepting of opening the book this way (she basically says that is what she wrote first, before she even had any of the rest of the story).
I had this in all three formats (audio/ebook and physical book) and went primarily with the audio. Two narrators for the two 1st person POVs, Lavinia and Belle. Laninia's POV is past tense, while Belle's is present tense. There is already a marked difference in the voice in the writing, and again in the narration, but this tense shift further differentiates the two. Basic chronological chapters (55 of them) with an author's note (included in audio) and a Reading Group Guide and Q&A with the author (in the text copies/not audio). I really wish the POVs (and dates when listed) were also listed with the chapters in the Table of Contents. Helpful for if I wanted to go back and check something, and knew which POV I was looking for. I have to manually flip through without it listed.
This kept my interest, and I cared about the characters ... so it was hard to continue, as so much of it was horrible experiences. When we "caught up" to the scene in the prologue, it was not word-for-word the prologue, slight changes ("stay here" in the prologue, "stay there" in chapter 55, and other similar/slight shifts ... ) The moment of truth, finding out who ... I had guessed it correctly.
I don't know that this will really stick in my memory, among all the other historical fiction I've read. It was good, but not one that I'd rave about. No proFanity, there is some sex, nothing written in explicit detail. There is rape. There is violence.