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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
The book created emotions for me but sadly they were mostly of frustration. If that was the author's intention then she was spot on. I felt deeply for Hattie when she lost her twins but her hardness and anger made it hard for me to have any feelings towards her. She was so guarded with herself that I felt pity for her children. All of her children carried scars of her rigid emotions and seemed doomed from the start.
The character development was really good and was the saving grace for this book. I enjoyed how each child had a story to tell and how the timelines were all different. It was a little jarring for the author to jump from 1st person to 3rd person with the different characters but it wasn't too great of a hurdle.
The character development was really good and was the saving grace for this book. I enjoyed how each child had a story to tell and how the timelines were all different. It was a little jarring for the author to jump from 1st person to 3rd person with the different characters but it wasn't too great of a hurdle.
Enjoyed this book! I really liked the layout, introducing family members one at a time, at various points in their lives.
Painful. I was unhappy reading it even though it is very well-written. The last chapter surprised me at the sense of satisfaction or redemption it left me with.
I really liked how this book was organized-- one chapter for each child... fascinating and heart-breaking. Glad my book club choose this one and looking forward to discussing it!
I did not like this book. I could not get into it. I felt that it was very unfinished. Each story about each of Hattie's children would just end. The stories did not give you a conclusion about the person.
15 year old Hattie came north to Philadelphia and her life changed in ways she couldn’t imagine. She suffered so much loss, both physical and emotional that at the end she simply refuses to lose anything else. She married an man older than her allowed him to stay in her life until he was sick and old enough to be the husband she deserved, rather than the philandering, trifling man she endured. Hattie had 9 children, it amazes me how women in the early 20th century pushed out kids like it was nothing. All Hattie’s kids longed for her affection but she was just trying to keep everyone alive, especially since she lost her first two so quick. She was a survivor. The book opens 10 days after Hattie and August Shepard move to Philadelphia and they loose their twins Jubilee and Philadelphia to pneumonia. The rest of the book introduces readers to the children she had after the twins, and they are all a hot mess. We first meet her son Pretty Boy Floyd a trumpet player who is struggling with his sexual identity. Then her son Six who is “small as a boll weevil,” but a fighter and also a child preacher with a healing power. We met Alice who has escaped poverty and married well, living a high life with a maid. But despite her new address she haunted by her past. Billups (Billy) who is close with Alice, and allows her to care for him, but eventually he finds Alice and her money stifling and her maid irresistible. We meet Ruthie, also known as Margaret (for a time). She actually is not Shepard, but the result of Hattie being fed up with August’s street shenanigans, and her foray into a passionate relationship that allows her to find happiness for a moment. Her son Frank is a soldier in Vietnam, who has lost his wife Sissy, because he couldn’t leave the streets alone, too busy gambling and womanizing like his daddy and brothers. When we first meet Belle, Hattie’s third daughter, Hattie is being forced to give the baby to her sister who could provide a better life down south. When we meet her again she is back in Philly (seemingly never left) and shacked up with a crook named Walter, has tuberculosis, and has been excommunicated from the Shepard clan. The reason for her excommunication is later learned, when readers find out Belle and Hattie have shared a lover. Finally, we meet Cassie and her daughter Sala. Cassie is struggling with schizophrenia, and must be put in an institution. Leaving Sala to be raised by an elderly Hattie and sickly August. At this point Hattie has lost all her children, and refuses to loose Sala, giving Hattie one more chance to parent the way she truly desired.
This book was bleak. The disconnect in the stories and the fact that once a chapter was over, the character was gone, made it hard to read. None of the characters were particularly likable anyway.
I truly enjoyed this. It has moved me to be more sympathetic to my mother and grandmother. I think we live in a time where we romanticize things too much. I grew up with two Hatties. They weren't and still aren't affectionate, but they love hard. They're the only ones that love me this way, so I'm grateful. This book was a reminder.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was strange but good. I randomly found it through the library's ebooks and I had no idea it was an Oprah's book club book or anything. I had never heard of it and had no expectations so I was surprised when I started reading it. It's told through 12 different chapters of all these people within the same family and there were times that I think that worked and other times it didn't. There were moments that I felt the story was kind of disconnected or certain chapters didn't have a real ending. I found the last two to be the most off when it comes to the book. All of that being said the book was good and I was drawn to it and kept wanting to read it so that says something.