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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Racist and weird, detached and boring
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book could have been so interesting and I am sure Eliza Lucas was an amazing woman. But it has the feel of a soap opera, too much talk about feelings for Ben and Charles and then the ending (eye roll). I would have liked to just have the historical aspect and not all of the conjecture. I started skimming at some point.
However, I did not feel that this book truly exposed me to the rawness of the situation Eliza was presented with. It took me a long time to become invested in the book and until I realized this was actually about a real-life person, I had a hard time actually believing anything that I read. I will credit this to specific freedoms that the author seemed to have taken (based on multiple other reviews).
The back/forth dialogue that dealt with Eliza & her thoughts/feelings towards Ben was so out of this world & unbelievable to me that it disconnected me from the story & in consequence led me to feel that I was reading a pure work of fiction. When I got to the end of the book & was able to read some concrete facts about Eliza, I felt that the relationship with Ben truly took away from Eliza’s lived experiences.
I don’t have to write a thousand words about the strangeness of this liberty. Eliza grew up the daughter of a slave-owner so one might conclude that she wasn’t totally oblivious to the way that Black people were treated or their social standing. Therefore, the fact that she constantly put Ben in peril & in dangerous situations by continuously trying to force a friendship (if not more) with him, in public places, was truly frustrating. Eliza went from a girl who seemed to want to break down the social norms imposed upon women; a person who works hard to save their family’s plantation, to a girl who really had no clue about anything that was happening in her society.
Had this part not been included, I would have felt more positive toward the story in general. The writing wasn’t hugely captivating but I will credit that to the fact that Eliza’s real life was probably not a giant adventure & was most likely filled with dread & hard times.
Hard to put down. Kept my interest from beginning to end - really deserves 4.8 stars!
I feel kind of conflicted reviewing this book. It was a quick and enjoyable read as far as the writing style, I had no problem picking it up again when I had to leave off, and I appreciated the depiction of a strong female character in a time when it wasn’t appreciated. But her growth from naive ingenue to a woman understanding her feelings just felt kind of rushed and almost choppy? I liked where it started, I liked where it ended up, but I was left kind of wanting with some of the twists in the middle.
Really liked the story of an early American settler, especially because she was a strong female of the time. I think some of the writing was a little too juvenile.