Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles

29 reviews

jiao_li's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring slow-paced

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

nadia's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.5

I was so excited for this book. I thought it might end up being my favourite out of the Women's Prize Nonfiction shortlist. The concept intrigued me!

Alas, I'm so incredibly sad to report that I found this book incredibly hard to get through. I really struggled. The book read like an academic paper, with a lot of repetition and conjecture. This speculative style of history just didn't work for me. I felt so detached from the central characters of the book because of it.

I'm especially sad that I didn't like All That She Carried given the important subject matter. I wanted to rate this book higher just because of the topic, but given my reading experience I just couldn't.

Final Women's Prize 2024 Non-Fiction Shortlist rankings:

1. How to Say Babylon
2. Code Dependent
3. A Flat Place  
4. Thunderclap
5. Doppelganger
6. All That She Carried

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

amalauna's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, and Slavery

bunceyyy's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Classism, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Colonisation

nuthatch's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, and Slavery

audreylee's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Violence and Sexual assault

mamadonna's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

A wonderful antidote to a typical historical nonfiction work.  I loved how the author researched and “allowed” the space between the stitches to take life, and how she embraced the “spiritual” meaning of  Ashley’s sack.  In addition, the book really lent itself to being read aloud and the narrator was excellent.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Rape

bookmaddie's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Violence

abigailbat's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

This is an incredibly powerful story and an amazing work of history. Combining gorgeous prose with meticulous research, the book examines slavery through the lens of a physical artifact, Ashley's sack. Although many would consider the items in Ashley's sack (a tattered dress, some pecans, a lock of hair) to be of little import, Miles takes a deep dive into each, demonstrating their essential importance as symbols of the love a mother has for her daughter. This is a book that celebrates love and an indomitable will to survive. This is a book that has a lot to say about art, particularly forms of art that are not always elevated or have special importance to Black folks. 

I feel that this is an important book for white people, such as myself, to read. It illuminates the particular harshness of slavery in this country, particularly in Charleston and South Carolina. I found it very eye-opening and it's a book that will stick with me for a long, long time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

rbsinger's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, and Slavery