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rebecca__m's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
I am currently in the process of reading another book by authors I have given two stars. This book was an ideal candidate because it was short, had some likable characters, and had an intriguing plot.
After finishing the first "chapter" I was feeling pretty optimistic. I liked Ava and her family, and the plot was intriguing enough to make me want to keep reading. By the time I finished "chapter 2" I was still feeling optimistic, albeit a bit less. I didn't dislike Josephine or where her story was going, I just wasn't as intrigued as I had been with Ava's story. Also, I felt like Josephine could come off as a bit arrogant and rude. She kind of reminded me of the way Mary McLeod Bethune was portrayed in The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
Things I liked:
+ I appreciated the three different timelines (Josephine's story was split into two timelines) were easy to keep track of.
+ The author did a good job depicting slavery and racism in a way that expressed the brutality of the two topics but was not overly gruesome.
+ I'm not sure if this was the author's intent, but there were definitely some sentences that I read that I interpreted as a subtle reminder that racism can go both ways.
+ I thought that the author did an amazing job wrapping everything up in the end.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but in the future, I think I will listen to this author on audio since there were some moments I found myself skiming. (I think that this book would translate really well to audio, if you are somebody who prefers audiobooks.)
After finishing the first "chapter" I was feeling pretty optimistic. I liked Ava and her family, and the plot was intriguing enough to make me want to keep reading. By the time I finished "chapter 2" I was still feeling optimistic, albeit a bit less. I didn't dislike Josephine or where her story was going, I just wasn't as intrigued as I had been with Ava's story. Also, I felt like Josephine could come off as a bit arrogant and rude. She kind of reminded me of the way Mary McLeod Bethune was portrayed in The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
Things I liked:
+ I appreciated the three different timelines (Josephine's story was split into two timelines) were easy to keep track of.
+ The author did a good job depicting slavery and racism in a way that expressed the brutality of the two topics but was not overly gruesome.
+ I'm not sure if this was the author's intent, but there were definitely some sentences that I read that I interpreted as a subtle reminder that racism can go both ways.
+ I thought that the author did an amazing job wrapping everything up in the end.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but in the future, I think I will listen to this author on audio since there were some moments I found myself skiming. (I think that this book would translate really well to audio, if you are somebody who prefers audiobooks.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Dementia
Moderate: Cancer and Death
Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Abandonment
znvisser's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It took me a while to get up to speed with the three different timelines and all the people in those, I would say I was already a third in by the time that happened. After that, I enjoyed most of the story, even though the characters were sometimes a bit grumpy and judgy towards others without it being properly shown why. And that obviously doesn't refer to Josephines wariness towards white people, but for example, it did apply to Ava towards her mother. This could have been interesting, were it properly explored, but unfortunately it wasn't. The ending tempered my positive feelings for the story that had actually started to grow: two of the stories came to a climax that seemed only included in order to shock the reader, since it wrapped up immediately and lacked any reflection on those events. And the third story extinguished by focusing on the wrong things. Therefore, I didn't feel the reader was given any closure for the story and its characters. So all in all, an ok read, but for me there were too many things off for it to be more than that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Dementia, and Murder
Minor: Miscarriage
franklybookish's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Murder