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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
challenging
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
At last—my first five-star read of the year! With strong, agile prose, this is excellent historical fiction. Set in Georgia just after the Civil War, it follows two families on an uneasy path forward. George and Isabelle Walker mourn their Confederate soldier son, Caleb; to find meaning, George hires Prentiss and Landry, two newly freed brothers, to help start a farm. The novel doesn’t shy away from slavery’s brutality, yet there’s hope here. I questioned how the Walkers were so different than their neighbors (there is some explanation), eventually accepting that as necessary contrast to make the story so compelling.
“And perhaps that was the great ill of the world, that those prone to evil were left untouched by guilt to a degree so vast that they might sleep through a storm, while better men, conscience-stained men, lay awake as though that very storm persisted unyieldingly in the furthest reaches of their soul.”
“‘Every time he fell, we were there. That is all that could be asked of either of us.’”
“A life without motion, without expectations—it was the secret she kept front the outside world, for no one else comprehended the great joy in abandonment, in giving up and starting over with a blank page, a page that might never be filled.”
“And perhaps that was the great ill of the world, that those prone to evil were left untouched by guilt to a degree so vast that they might sleep through a storm, while better men, conscience-stained men, lay awake as though that very storm persisted unyieldingly in the furthest reaches of their soul.”
“‘Every time he fell, we were there. That is all that could be asked of either of us.’”
“A life without motion, without expectations—it was the secret she kept front the outside world, for no one else comprehended the great joy in abandonment, in giving up and starting over with a blank page, a page that might never be filled.”
Couldn't put this book down. Brutal and beautiful all at once.
dark
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
It took me a few chapters to get into the storyline and the main characters. It has a slow start but gathers steam when ex-slave Landry is brutally murdered. Once this event happens the main storyline kicks in and it gains speed.
This book highlights real life impacts of freedmen in a society that still holds to white superiority. It plays with the ideas of justice/injustice, and little acts of reparation made my one family. Though there is a representation of queer relationships, it is not the main focus, rather it becomes the relationship by which all else happens!
This book highlights real life impacts of freedmen in a society that still holds to white superiority. It plays with the ideas of justice/injustice, and little acts of reparation made my one family. Though there is a representation of queer relationships, it is not the main focus, rather it becomes the relationship by which all else happens!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Colonisation
Minor: Sexual content
emotional
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:
Complicated
Best book I’ve read in awhile. Quirky but relatable characters. Hard stories of the south just after emancipation. Neighbors on all sides of the issue. Would have liked to known more of Mildred, friend to Isabelle who was the wife of George, , the main character. It was a beautiful friendship. Caleb, son of George, also had a friendship with August that was built on August’s sick power over him. Also threads of the civil war and its effect on young men.
Sweetness of water had to do with Landry’s (freed slav3and brother of Prentiss) fascination with a gaudy fountain on his master’s property.
Sweetness of water had to do with Landry’s (freed slav3and brother of Prentiss) fascination with a gaudy fountain on his master’s property.
Can't quite see the point of chasing freedom if you ain't going to take it up once it's sitting right in front of you.
Prentiss and Landry walked off a plantation, searching to create a pathway to the freedom announced by the Civil War. They haven't made it far, just into the neighbor's woods – but the politics have already dramatically shifted. George, distraught, has decided to give up a life of idleness and work the land. He's willing to pay experienced aides. This is enough to fuel a plot. Harris adds a surprise return of a thought-dead soldier. A former field hand, mute now after years of physical brutality, cherishing the snatches of softness he can find. Insults delivered as faux southern gentility. A clandestine queer romance; a senseless murder when discovered. A jailbreak and unlikely collaboration toward a new freedom:
How fantastic it had been to gather the courage, to step forward, to give in for the first time ever to a forbidden act of protest.
Whether between a husband and a harlot, two longstanding friends, brothers, lovers or neighbors ... Harris asks how we show tenderness: A hand on a shoulder. A deliberate silence. Sharing a memory no one else has heard. Imagining together beyond what we can see. Knit socks. Small monuments. Peach preserves. Streamlining your skills in service of another's goals.
Harris' cast is deeply human. As he writes central characters, beloved protagonists and extremely unlikable figures, he contextualizes their unity, disgust, chagrin, pettiness, bemusement ... DeMeritt's narration is superbly additive, clarifying distinctions in class and disposition with changes to pacing and accents.
This is written so beautifully, I find my words scarce in describing it.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a truly heartbreaking book. Going into it, I wasn't expecting as much death as it entailed but I completely understand why certain characters had to die to move the plot forward. I found the beginning to be a little slow but as the story got going, especially after the first major (shocking) death, I couldn't put it down. I particularly appreciated the female perspective of this time period and the exploration of how complicated the idea of taking sides on the slavery debate was at this time. Highly recommend to anyone wanting a unique perspective on the era immediately after the American Civil War but fair warning that it can be an extremely hard read at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, War
Minor: Sexism, Classism
Wonderfully written story of life in the Deep South immediately after the end of the Civil War. Great characters- great story telling - great history lesson.