Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Yes
Devastating, yet hopeful, this novel takes place in post-Civil War reconstruction, in a southern town. George and his wife Isabelle Walker were not nor ever were going to be a typical southern family. And when two recently freed brothers take a job offer on the farm, everyone’s lives change forever.
This book is of grief, longing, of finding one’s own strength, love and all of the above. It’s beautifully written and well told. I really enjoyed it.
This book is of grief, longing, of finding one’s own strength, love and all of the above. It’s beautifully written and well told. I really enjoyed it.
emotional
hopeful
sad
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:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first completed book, and first book review, of 2022. Received the print ARC from this book last year, and was very much looking forward to reading it, especially as I chose it for a book club at the library where I work.
I loved the book a lot, but I could only give it between a 3.5 to a 4, as parts of the book were problematic. Among other issues, I found some of the ways that various characters spoke and acted on the anachronistic side. For example, the story is set in Georgia as the Civil War is ending. One of the main characters meeting the Union general now in charge of the town says, "You must be General Glass," and he responds, "And you must be Isabelle." Sorry, but there's no way he would have addressed her as such, it would be a complete breach of 19th c. etiquette. In addition, even with "willing suspension of disbelief," I am forced "to call BS" on the often brazen and even confrontational ways that one of the Freedmen speaks and acts. As a reader, and a person of color, it's great to see a fictional person of color have this kind of agency, boldness, and self-assurance, but historically, it's unlikely that that person would have survived for long.
I also found some characters and/or aspects of the story a bit undercooked; Caleb, I'm looking at you. In addition, the LGBTQ subplot, while appreciated, doesn't quite jell. It does tie into a huge tragedy, in a way that was slightly confusing, but more importantly, I didn't feel I got enough of the relationship between those particular protagonists. It's meant to be a transgressive relationship, I think, and while the author is very successful in showing us a fairly wide variety of other relationships in this era that would have been transgressive in one or more ways, the LGBTQ+ subplot felt underwhelming and even almost unnecessary, which I say even as a gay man who appreciates representation.
Having said all that, again, I loved this book. Among other defining aspects, Nathan Harris explores what freedom would have meant to men and women only recently freed from enslaved status, both in terms of their pasts and in how they could live their futures, including this:
"What he would give to be so careless! To not look over his shoulder. To miss a signpost and find himself two towns over, drinking ale on a stranger's porch and speaking with him of the last stranger who had made the same mistake. He wished to do WRONG, too. That was what George, what Caleb, what no one could quite get... It wasn't just that he could be free, he realized. He could be HAPPY."
There were so many other beautiful passages in this book, and so many finely wrought observations. I very much thank Nathan Harris for this book, which opened up my eyes and filled my heart. This debut novel was very much worth my time, and I look forward to reading Nathan Harris for many years to come.
I loved the book a lot, but I could only give it between a 3.5 to a 4, as parts of the book were problematic. Among other issues, I found some of the ways that various characters spoke and acted on the anachronistic side. For example, the story is set in Georgia as the Civil War is ending. One of the main characters meeting the Union general now in charge of the town says, "You must be General Glass," and he responds, "And you must be Isabelle." Sorry, but there's no way he would have addressed her as such, it would be a complete breach of 19th c. etiquette. In addition, even with "willing suspension of disbelief," I am forced "to call BS" on the often brazen and even confrontational ways that one of the Freedmen speaks and acts. As a reader, and a person of color, it's great to see a fictional person of color have this kind of agency, boldness, and self-assurance, but historically, it's unlikely that that person would have survived for long.
I also found some characters and/or aspects of the story a bit undercooked; Caleb, I'm looking at you. In addition, the LGBTQ subplot, while appreciated, doesn't quite jell. It does tie into a huge tragedy, in a way that was slightly confusing, but more importantly, I didn't feel I got enough of the relationship between those particular protagonists. It's meant to be a transgressive relationship, I think, and while the author is very successful in showing us a fairly wide variety of other relationships in this era that would have been transgressive in one or more ways, the LGBTQ+ subplot felt underwhelming and even almost unnecessary, which I say even as a gay man who appreciates representation.
Having said all that, again, I loved this book. Among other defining aspects, Nathan Harris explores what freedom would have meant to men and women only recently freed from enslaved status, both in terms of their pasts and in how they could live their futures, including this:
"What he would give to be so careless! To not look over his shoulder. To miss a signpost and find himself two towns over, drinking ale on a stranger's porch and speaking with him of the last stranger who had made the same mistake. He wished to do WRONG, too. That was what George, what Caleb, what no one could quite get... It wasn't just that he could be free, he realized. He could be HAPPY."
There were so many other beautiful passages in this book, and so many finely wrought observations. I very much thank Nathan Harris for this book, which opened up my eyes and filled my heart. This debut novel was very much worth my time, and I look forward to reading Nathan Harris for many years to come.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
slow-paced
I enjoyed this! It was a bit too slow paced for me at first, so it didn't have that gripping factor I like in books, but it was well written and once the plot really kicks off about halfway through I became much more invested. It's very well written and super empathetic to its wide range of characters.
A sad story set in the South after the Civil War. That a defeat on the battlefields doesn’t change the minds of most of a community with regard to race and relations between the races. A would-be farmer employs two formerly enslaved brothers. Issues of class, race, gender, sexuality, war and peace. Well-developed interesting characters – I love books where I can’t predict at all what might happen.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery
emotional
sad
slow-paced