Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

6 reviews

alyciajstewart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book is truly heartbreaking. Reading about the experiences of slaves in the 1800s South was difficult. The author did an admiral job of bringing historical figures to life. I regret that I didn't know about the Grimke family until reading this novel. Clearly they played a very important role in history and I am grateful to now know more of their story. While this is a fictional account, it's clear that the author put a great deal of thought into keeping it as historically realistic as possible. The relationship between Sarah and Handful is well executed. They obviously have a very complicated relationship, but the author is still able to provide the depth needed for us to feel for both characters. Overall, this was a very well done novel and I found it both entertaining and educational. I listened to the book on audio, and I greatly appreciated that Sarah and Handful had different narrators. It definitely added to the overall experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Racism, and Slavery

woodsymel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Murder, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Abandonment, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Classism, Death, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death of parent, Confinement, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Infidelity, and Alcoholism

enbae's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

When I started reading "the invention of wings" I expected something totally different, but now it was the exact right book for me. Especially finding out how many people from this book really existed inspired and thrilled me. I had never heard of the Grimké-sisters and their doing before - as many great women who's stories get left out of our history classes - and I'm still absolutely stunned!!!
A must-read for so many (white) people who can't imagine the cruel reality of slavery.

!!!But also huge trigger warnings: this book deals with topics as slavery, rassism, sexism, torture and even execution! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Death, Torture, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Trafficking, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Alcohol

Execution

midnightmarauder's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

The Invention of Wings is a fictionalized account of the life of Sarah Moore Grimké, a woman who led one of the first abolitionist and feminist movements alongside her sister, Angelina, in the mid to late 1800s.

On Sarah's eleventh birthday, she is "gifted" a slave girl named Handful. Sarah, already extremely against slavery at such a young age, initially rejects her "present", but, after being told that she couldn't do so, her and Handful become very close.

Handful lives up to her name, being defiant toward both Sarah and the Grimké household as a whole in the beginning of the novel. But, after getting to know Sarah more and hearing her personal stance of slavery, she warms up to her and the two become friends.

The story is written in a non-linear writing style, alternating between both Sarah and Handful's point-of-views, and different time periods from 1806 to 1836. Through these time periods, Handful works on the Grimké property and dreams of being free someday, while Sarah works toward her goal of the emancipation of all slaves, along with racial equality and rights for women.

I feel that Sue Monk Kidd did an excellent job at telling both Sarah and Handful's stories. People who write about white abolitionists tend to hold them to a god-like standard, without bothering to even mention their slaves (if they had any). Kidd took the time to humanize Handful and make it clear that she was a person, too, not just someone who sat on the sidelines. 

I do wish that Kidd had given more depth to Handful's point of view. I know there wasn't much she could cover, as Handful was enslaved for the entire book

until the end

, but I just feel like a little bit more could've been given to her story. 

All in all, I went into this book not knowing anything about either Sarah nor Handful. I hadn't even heard their names before. I really enjoyed reading about each woman's push toward equality for all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Classism, Slavery, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

kshertz's review against another edition

emotional informative sad slow-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

4.0

I wasn’t sure about this book when I started off because I really don’t love having any more enslaved tales and I really don’t love a white person telling an enslaved tale from the perspective of an enslaved person but this is very well done. It really helps me that all of these people were real people and then the story itself is the only fictional part. It was exciting. I couldn’t put it down. It was also heavy. But I think it accomplished what it meant too. If you’re interested in history before the Civil War then might be interested in this book. they definitely did the research.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Murder, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Sexism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Body horror, Colonisation, and Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Ableism, Xenophobia, Cursing, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, and Sexual harassment