Review 739: The Hemingses of Monticello

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An incredibly detailed account of the Hemings family. Gordon-Reed places the Hemingses in the center of the narrative, how it was for them to live enslaved and without control over their life. Yet, with Thomas Jefferson some of the family had a greater degree of autonomy, they were treated better than the rest of his slaves. They were “privileged” within the slave community. Several generations of Hemings were from white masters and black slaves. Two of Jefferson’s offspring by Sally went on to live a life as a white person. All of their children were set free, eventually. It’s hard to imagine the mores of that time and place, that this was acceptable behavior.

Jefferson was careful in what was kept by his letters and writings. He tried to shape his historical image. Even at the time it was a scandal between himself and Sally, and still nothing was confirmed. Yet there are still facts, and of course now DNA evidence. He is quite the enigma.

Review 706: Burn Down Master's House

Burn Down Master's House by Clay Cane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



In the introduction the author states this book will make you uncomfortable and he definitely achieved that. We have four stories that could be four individual short stories. However, they build on each other. The main character in each story changes, but in the last they all come together more fully. The book takes place in the time of slavery in the South in United States with the main characters being enslaved, with a couple of exceptions.

The first story introduces us to Magnolia Row, the plantation, one of the cruelest in the area. After the events in this story the slaves scatter. The characters in all of the stories are all related in some way to Magnolia Row. In the last story the civil war has begun.

Each character finds a way to fight for their freedom, often in brutal way, paying retribution on their masters. But not always. In one story we have Charity Butler who is gains her freedom (for a time) by the laws in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This story in particular is based on true events.
Several other aspects of these stories are historically accurate. It does take some of the more brutal parts of history, but also shows how people persevered and reclaimed their lives. The book overall feels one sided, with very minimal white people being decent. The characters are not very nuanced. However, it does have one black man being just as cruel when becoming a slaveowner himself.

I listened to the audio which is narrated by the author, but did not really enjoy the narration style. It made a difficult book even more difficult to get through. The words were enunciated very deliberately and slowly, with a pause after every word. I had to speed up the narration more than I typically would to find a better reading pace, which helped. If there is any interest in reading this book my suggestion is to avoid the audiobook.

Review 679: The Escapes of David George

The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution by Gregory E. O'Malley
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars



David George was born into slavery and named Davy. He had his own mind about how he wanted to live his live and his master was not a kind one. In 1762 aged 19 he ran away, going south from the Virginia plantation. Davy managed to escape for a time.

David, as he now wanted to be called, was helped by white people several times during his initial escape. John Green, became a sort of friend, where David lived and worked for two years. It was not in Green’s best interest to harbor a fugitive slave but he did so, and when word came the slave catchers were after David, he ran again.

This time he was captured by the Creek Peoples and was a slave once again, but of an entirely different sort. While still trying to escape his original owner, the Chappells were hot on his heels during his time with the Creeks. David somehow managed be involved with the Nachez people, King Jack in particular. It appears that Jack had brokered a deal where David was purchased by John Miller, or George Gaulphin from the Chappells. David now lived in a trading post managed by John Miller, living here for about three years.

Now around 25 David told Mr. Gaulfin and he wanted to live with him in Silver Bluff. So David ended up choosing his master, not a typical situation by a slave.

Here in Silver Bluff David settled down, had a wife and soon children. During his time here David had a profound reaction to a comment about religion and he sought this out. Over a short period of time David started to become a preacher and chose the last name for himself of George.
When the American Revolution began David George sided with the British as a way to escape slavery. Joining their forces he found that he wasn’t escaping racism and so after the war he and his family moved to Nova Scotia.

In Canada David was emancipated and became a minister with a community. Although they were technically free racism and prejudice still abound. The blacks were blamed for whatever when wrong and at point a riot of the white peoples against the blacks broke out that that destroyed many black homes. Realizing they would never be completely free the community emigrated to Sierra Leone.

David George’s life while not entirely his own, was still formed by his own decisions time and again while trying to escape a situation that he did not like.

This is a fascinating story. The book was somewhat dry at times, although the facts themselves are quite compelling. Several times there is a repetition of what was already explained, even a summing up of what came before, which detracted from my overall rating. The book takes on the wider lens of history at that time, and seemed like the book was trying to be a primer of what slavery looked like in the mid-1700’s. For those unfamiliar with the history and situation the extra material will enhance the material.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book. This is not the ideal way to read this book, the narrator does not favors to the material.

Review 677: The Blackbirds of St. Giles

The Blackbirds of St. Giles by Lila Cain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was taken by this cover and barely read what the book would be about. The book takes place mostly in London in the late 1700s just after the revolutionary war.

Daniel and his sister Pearl are the only ones from his family who escaped enslavement year prior. Daniel made a name for himself serving the British in the revolutionary war. Upon arriving in London all that was promised him was taken away.

Now destitute he finds himself in the worst part of London in St. Giles ruled by a despot the "King of the Rockery" who you must obey. An interesting historical fiction.

Review 666: An Extraordinary Union

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm not a romance fan...if you are, this book may work for you. 

Review 648: Our Own Country

Our Own Country by Jodi Daynard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the second book of a trilogy, the first one being The Midwife's Revolt. I didn’t like this book as much as the first. It wasn’t as concerned with the American Revolution as the first book, for one. Also, for a large part of the book that repeated the actions as the first book really slowed this one down.

The point of view shifted here, as it is now of, Eliza Boylston. She is the sister-in-law of Lizzie, the main character in the first book. Eliza's story is more concerned with her personal relationship with a slave, John Watkins, and other domestic matters. She grows as a person, which is nice to see. And clearly has different views of enslaved people than her parents, or many at that time. Perhaps there are too much of modern feelings placed into Eliza than what you would find from a woman of her era.

Review 603: The High Desert

The High Desert by James Spooner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I saw this book at my library I had to read it. I was not a punk, but did listen to some of the music and saw some punk bands play a few times. Also in the 90’s, the era of the book, I spent some time in Apple Valley where this book takes place. I did not go to the high school there, nor knew anyone who actually lived in Apple Valley. But I did have a friend who had a house that he rented out, when empty a group of us would go up for a weekend sometimes. So this book has some familiarity.

Through the whole time reading the book I felt for James Spooner. He had it tough and as a teenager there’s already a lot going on. Moving as often as he did wasn’t helpful for finding long-term friends. On top of it the horrendous racism he encountered, he was a mixed-race kid. Spooner found himself identifying with the punk music and fashion, the way it presented itself, and in this crucial year he was learning.

Over the Christmas break he spent it at his dad’s in New York City. There he ran into a few punks that helped educate him which was pivotal in his life. The more Spooner learned about punk, the more it resonated with him. Back in Apple Valley still feeling lonely, never getting the girl. The attempt at being in a band didn’t work out, his friends were also going through some rough times. It didn’t help that they hung out with racist skinheads.

I was happy to see that SHARP (Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice) was mentioned, and the history of how skinhead culture got coopted by racists.

This was a personal memoir but it also speaks to being other.

Review 594: The Wedding

The Wedding by Dorothy West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Oval is a rich enclave of African American residents. Many own summer homes here, they all know one another. This season is the upcoming wedding of Shelby Coles, marrying a white man, a musician no less with no regular income. Shelby was expected to marry someone that has a profession, well to-do as she was brought up. And someone of her own race.

There are many character in this story. Shelby’s parents, her sister, Gram, and several other generations of ancestors. Also, a neighbor man who has his sights on Shelby. The story is not linear, and often goes in the past. It is somewhat confusing. I had a hard time getting hold of who was who and related and what was going on. The family tree in the beginning of the book helped.

I nearly gave up on the book half-way through out of sheer confusion of these mass of varied stories. But I found and watched half of the tv-mini series made near around when the book came out. Things clicked in from there, but there are major differences from the film version and the book (isn’t that always?).

The major theme for this book is race and racism. It shows many sides of this and not just from the whites but within black families as well. The question is also was Shelby’s decision to marry a white man because of race?

When the book takes a closer look at marriages and why people married who they did, there is something else. Shelby may be trying to change that dynamic and he just happens to be white. But Shelby has been beginning to question her choice even up to the day before the wedding. The ending seemed a bit abrupt to me, hastily finished.

Review 548: Rental House

Rental House by Weike Wang
My rating: 3.25 of 5 stars


A relatively short book about a marriage, about navigating life and in-laws. We meet them when they meet each other, their last year in college. Keru comes from an immigrant family from China, an only child. While Nate is from a poor white family he calls himself white trash. He amazed his family by getting a full scholarship into this ivy league school, it was unexpected.

Both sets of parents, particularly the mother’s have the same sort of discussions of most families: when will you have kids, when will you visit, why can’t you live closer to me? The issue of will they have kids comes up between Nate and Keru several times. Instead of child they have a dog which is a character in the book as well, Mantou.

A few thorny issues are here in the book, such as race, but this and political type issues are raised it felt very natural. It was pushed into the story, but part of what life is about.

 
The book is split into two parts, with a very short three-page interlude between. There are some paragraph breaks, but no chapters.

I did have a copy of the print book, but I listened to the audiobook. I liked the way the narrator stressed some of the words and sentences. Not sure I would have print read it in the same way, so it added another dimension to the story.

Review 384: The Wind Whistling in the Cranes

The Wind Whistling in the Cranes by Lídia Jorge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The writing style of this book didn't appeal to me, and I nearly set the book aside. Yet I continued on and found in the end I quite enjoyed the book. This is a translation from the Portuguese, taking place on the coast in Portugal.

The reading was slow going for me, due to the style with the action/plot being slow as well. The beginning was the hardest, and the pacing improved as the book went on. One of the reasons for the slowness was the repetition, oh so much repetition. I went along with it, continuing to read, as this is a different culture, perhaps things go at a different pace than one I am accustomed to.

The story starts out with the death of the matriarch of a well to-do family, Regina Leandro. One of the sons is the mayor of the town. Everyone is out of town and unreachable, so the only person left is Milene. She is a simple-minded woman, although it took a bit to realize this. I was annoyed by her character at first, found aggravating, later though she did grow on me.

The opening scenes take place in the Old Factory, as this is where Regina was found, and Milene went there to find some answers. The Mata's now live there, the third wave, an extended immigrant family, and they too were out of town at first.

Milene becomes quite attached to one of the Mata's, a young widower. The courtship is not a typical one by any means. And him being black means not only class, but race could be a problem.

Review 309: Take My Hand

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This historical novel is based, inspired by real life events. It’s shocking to find there were some programs set up to sterilize women deemed unfit. Who are defined as unfit for motherhood? Most often it is the poor, people of color, disabled that are targeted. Stories like this help to highlight travesties of the past, to humanize what happened, and help to ensure these flawed decisions and actions are not repeated.

The setting is Birmingham, Alabama, with the frame of the story told by Civil Townsend, to her twenty-something adopted daughter, about her life when she was around the same age. Looking back to the early 1970s, when Townsend started her first job as a nurse at a family planning clinic. Civil’s first assigned home visit takes place in the country to give birth control shots to two sisters. What she finds transforms Civil’s life trajectory.

The two sisters are young, not of age, and one is mute. They live in abject poverty and don’t go to school. Civil feels her duty to help this family and get them into government housing, so the father, grandmother and girls no long have to live in a one-room shack with an outdoor toilet. Civil becomes embedded with this family, quickly questioning why they need birth control at such a young age, before the younger has even started her periods. Then one day the girls are sterilized, the father and grandmother being illiterate, hardly knew what they signed for. Civil, along with the family, file suit against the clinic where she works. It turns bigger than this case and their lawyer sues on behalf of the hundreds of other women found in a similar situation.

The story is heartbreaking, yet wonderfully told. There are moments when the past is broken with the present, speaking to Civil’s daughter, and a few times it felt awkward, but it comes together at the end.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 303: Sugar Town Queens

Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The main character Amandla acts fierce, and she has to growing up in a poor area in South Africa called Sugar Town. Her mother has memory and other issues, good days and bad. Amandla wants to know how her mother gets their money, as she doesn't seem to have a job, so follows her one day and discovers a family she knew nothing about.

Unfortunately, her grandfather is a racist, doesn't want a mixed-race girl around, nor his daughter. The grandmother on the other hand, while being very ill does want them around. The story is about how these two come to a resolution, and how Amandla learns her mother’s story.

While I enjoyed Amandla’s fierceness, I wished more of what she said in her head turned into actual words. I didn’t like how much more was inside her instead of in the outside world. I loved her friends and the other people in her neighborhood, well except for the bullies. Nonetheless the story was decent, a good read.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers/Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 301: Bound for Canaan

Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America's First Civil Rights Movement by Fergus M. Bordewich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Definitely an Epic Story! Well researched and well written history all about underground railroad from the early beginnings and until it dismantled with the start of the Civil War. This wasn't a fast read by any means, took me almost an entire month, but it was fascinating and gripping at moments.

Interesting fact: the underground railroad predates railroads in the country. Once the railroad (steel and metal kind) became something used as transportation the language became tied to the movement of helping people escape and find their way to freedom, often in Canada.

I'm so glad I read this book as my understanding was vague before, knowing the general gist of this transformative movement along with a few of the key people. The book covers many of the people who were significant in helping develop networks to help people find freedom and yet are lesser known. This was an excellent book to learn about this awful time in American history.

Review 290: The Violin Conspiracy

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Not quite a mystery, although at center of the book is who stole Ray’s heirloom violin? Much of that aspect is put aside to tells Ray full story, not in linear time either. The format sort of works.

My heart kept breaking for this guy. He had no one in his family to support his music except his grandmother. His mother was so distant and rejected him yet doted on his twin siblings, makes you wonder about why…yet was never addressed, nor anything about his father. Nearly no one outside of his grandmother seemed to support Ray, although he does win over an aunt later.

Ray is on his own, figuring out life, but all he wants to do is play the violin. His grandmother gave over her grandfather’s violin that turns out to be a rare one worth millions of dollars that now brings more grief to Ray as the family expects him to hand over money he does not have.

Later in the book the repetition of these ills, the racism and travesties thrown at Ray who only wanted to play the violin, was repetitive. The story bogged down, got boring even. It was a trudge to get through. The bright spots were the lyrical descriptions of the music when Ray was playing. It kept me reading.

The book needed more editing, cutting or adding different material. A tighter book would have soared. It read like a first novel that could have been better as a short story or novella.

2.5 stars.  A good effort for a first-time novelist whose real passion lies in music.

Thanks to Anchor/Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 286: The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr

The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr: A Riveting Untold Story of the American Revolution by Susan Holloway Scott
My rating: 3.75 of 5 stars



I would not call it "Riveting" 

500 pages – longish book

Read somewhat quickly, from Dec.19 to 26.

Had time off work, so that helped.

roughly years: 1768-1829 

It was a very detailed account of a slave, that came from India, sold by her uncle for a pittance to a French lady to serve as a pet when she was around 8 years old. Briefly at a plantation in the Caribbean Islands she luckily was sold to a British officer who gave her to his wife where they lived in New Jersey. Mistress was a "good" master and here is the bulk of the book, with the American Revolution years. Aaron Burr does come into the book, later than one would expect.

The author notes how factual she tried to remain to history, with lots of fiction with our main character, except she did exist at least to the extent of giving Burr two children.

Review 254: Buses Are a Comin'

Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider by Charles Person
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent book!

An amazing story! Charles Person was only 18 when he joined the first group of people in the Freedom rides challenging the segregation of buses, bus depots and restaurants in many states, from the South to Washington D.C. He was with a small group of people, black and white that would sit where there were generally not allowed. Of course, they encountered bigotry and hatred, but occasionally kindness as well. Person was awestruck that one of the men (Jim Peck) who joined them was not only white, but a rich man as well. He did not need to do this, where Person felt he must.

This was an engaging story, well, told. We hear how Person joined, you had to apply and he didn’t have much experience fighting for justice, but he had joined a protest that landed him in jail and solitary confinement for singing for freedom a bit too enthusiastically for the jailors. Once picked, he had to convince his parents he could go, as he needed a signature from one of them. This was his first year in college, and his family had their sights on him being one of the first to graduate, so it wasn’t an easy thing asking for a few weeks from college during finals.

Anyway, this review is turning into my telling of the story and it’s better left from the man himself. An excellent book!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Although I got an advance eBook copy, I ended up reading via audiobook. The narrator did an excellent job and would recommend this version as well.

Review 230: Raceless

Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong by Georgina Lawton
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Georgina’s experience growing up was she was white, period, with her darker skin color and hair was explained by ancestry somehow. This denial of her true parentage was always troublesome, making her believe maybe she was switched at birth in the hospital or something else that her mother would never admit. Her father was a generous loving man, and always accepted Georgina. After he passed away a DNA test proved he wasn’t her real father, and painfully her mother admitted to an affair one night in a pub, but without any other info.

This memoir explores this painful realization of understanding herself and her biological past, while also diving into generalizations of race. In trying to deal with the revelations and anger at her mother for never talking and denying Georgina the truth about herself, gaslighting her childhood, Georgina travels briefly, while writing freelance articles about race. Once back in London she tries again to deal with the emotional fall out with her mother.

While the book is well written, there are points where the focus seems to wander, although in somewhat related area, such as the long sections on hair. It is easy to image as more people take DNA tests, they will discover family secrets such as Georgina’s. There are a couple of similar situations also discussed in the book, but not thoroughly.



Thanks to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 228: The Personal Librarian

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book takes on the fictional account of the groundbreaking librarian for J.P. Morgan and his new library of art and rare manuscripts and books. Morgan did the unthinkable and hired a woman, Belle da Costa Greene.

Not only is the librarian a woman, which was a unique position for the early part of the 20th century, but she was also a black woman passing as white, born as Belle Marion Greener, whose father was an outspoken advocate for equality. The tension created by the necessity of hiding her true identity made for an engrossing book.

Belle always has to watch herself, could not make one mistake, and yet she does slip up every now and then. I felt myself cringe for the repercussions with these minor slips, as one cannot do anything but cheer for Belle and hope she will succeed despite all of the challenges she faces.

Belle stood out in a man’s world where no other woman operated, so she adopted a style that went against her upbringing and became bold and daring.

I was swept away with this book and read it quickly, not wanting to wait to see if she would be caught, or what may happen. It felt as if I did not breathe until the book was over. And with this book we can get a glimpse of what it felt like to be her, or other women from the era trying to pass as white.

Unfortunately, there are a few slight issues I had with the book, a phrase that repeated a couple of times, talking to a future audience, these lines were unnecessary and jarring particularly as it was repeated. In general there were a few other repetitions inserted that also made the book weaker. Despite these flaws I did enjoy the book overall.

Although the book is historical fiction it is based on fact, Belle worked at Morgan’s librarian, and she passed as white. The author’s note at the end is a must read.



Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 209: Libertie

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is about mothers and daughters. It’s told from the point of view of Libertie, the daughter. Her mother was born free and so light skinned she passed for white, although she never tried to, and went to college to become a doctor. Soon the civil war is here, then gone and Libertie is now a teenager and asks her mother too many questions for her mother’s comfort.

The push and pull between parent and child is evident throughout the book, as well as freedom, liberty, and perhaps the pursuit of one’s own happiness. Liberties is being trained and educated to follow her mother’s path of being a doctor, but she doesn’t have the passion. Her real passion is to be close to her mother. 

There is so much more going on in this book. Certainly this could be one to garner more out of a second, or third reading. There are layers of meaning and imagery, and a focus on the gods of Africa and Christianity. Of the many themes within the book the one that was most direct and spoke to me was the mother-daughter relationship. The misunderstanding of each other, of the generational differences, and sadly, the feeling of not being what the other wants or needs. 

This would be a great book for a reading group or discussion.

Thanks to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 204: Eternal

Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This WWII story takes place in Rome, the heart of Italy with three main characters that form a love triangle, with Elisabetta in the center of Marco and Sandro vying for her love. They grew up together and now the two boys are clamoring for Elisabetta’s love, with family drama mixed in, all in the lead up to the start of WWII. By the time the first race laws are passed and cause great heartache, we are already a quarter of the way in the book. 

The beginning of the book felt slow and detailed, too much at times, with alternating points of view. There are sections when the next chapter jumped months, and this just after an important scene and you might expect more details. 

I wasn’t fond of the writing style overall, it felt stilted to me, with the plot being forced by the author instead of feeling natural. Yet, all characters were developed and could feel the setting. I particularly enjoyed the author’s note on what was historically accurate and fiction. 

Thanks to the author and publisher G.P. Putnam’s Sons for sending me an advanced review copy.