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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
This was a very powerful read for me. I am a White woman who fully acknowledges the privilege and power that I have because of my race. I have spent years researching and reading about Black history and striving to lean into difficult conversations and learn from people who are Black, brown, and people of color. I am also super interested in family history and genealogy, and I adore reading and books and libraries, so this book was right up my alley for all of those reasons. But I think the most important aspect of this book is to shed light on, and say the names of, the lost friends and the rather ingenious/ahead-of-its-time crowdsourcing idea of creating the Lost Friends Column in Louisiana newspapers in the late 1800s. As a social media coordinator in my full-time job, I have to say: This idea just blew me away. It was such a great idea and, my hope is that it did answer some questions for some families and did reunite some long-lost families who were torn apart by the greed, power struggle, and racist, money-hungry nature of the white supremacist society that existed back then (and that still exists today, in different ways)--a society that not only accepted but promoted, wanted, sustained, "fed and watered" slavery as a means of denigrating other human beings, elevating the status of one's own race (the white race), seeking power and control, and heartlessly ripping families apart in the process. This is an important story. We need to keep saying their names. And for that reason, I ask that you READ THIS BOOK. It's filled with messages and lessons on history, family history, genealogy, books-books-and-more-books, the importance of reading and literacy and education, the love of family, coming of age, Louisiana and southern history, and most important of all -- a recounting of a terrible, terrible time in our country's history that cannot, should not, ever be forgotten or stopped being spoken of. We should have done better, then. I hope that we will start doing better, now. We are far from there yet.
I wanted to like this more than I did, but the back and forth between time periods just didn’t flow for me, and none of the characters really captured me. It’s a good story and the historical research was apparent and well done.
What an amazing story. So much history to learn, so little time. ❤️
Listened to the audiobook which was very well done with multiple readers. There were times when the story dragged on a bit but I then thought that the pace of the book reflected the slower pace of our past.
My one complaint was the ending: I felt like the author tried to quickly and neatly wrap up everything in the last chapter and epilogue. I would have enjoyed earlier foreshadowing and the opportunity to consider the possible history.
My one complaint was the ending: I felt like the author tried to quickly and neatly wrap up everything in the last chapter and epilogue. I would have enjoyed earlier foreshadowing and the opportunity to consider the possible history.
I really wanted to love this book, because “Before We Were Yours” was so good, but this one just didn’t do it for me.
The history is interesting, and not something I was very familiar with, but the book itself just drags on. Parts were confusing, and probably felt that way because I was losing attention.
The story is divided into the 1880s and the 1980s, neither part was great but the 1980s was downright boring at parts.
Only because of the interesting history I gave it 3 stars, but would really be more of 2.5.
The history is interesting, and not something I was very familiar with, but the book itself just drags on. Parts were confusing, and probably felt that way because I was losing attention.
The story is divided into the 1880s and the 1980s, neither part was great but the 1980s was downright boring at parts.
Only because of the interesting history I gave it 3 stars, but would really be more of 2.5.
Lisa Wingate knows how to do it right. Another home run here. Followinng the Civil War, The Southwestern newspaper carried advertiments from newly freed slaves desperately searching for loved ones who had been sold or stollen away.
This story toggles between Hannie, a freed slave searcing for her people; to Bennie, a 20th Century teacher desperate to create an enthusiastic and dignified motivation for her High School Students to learn their history.
This story toggles between Hannie, a freed slave searcing for her people; to Bennie, a 20th Century teacher desperate to create an enthusiastic and dignified motivation for her High School Students to learn their history.
I learned so much from this book and I’m embarrassed that so much of this story was news to me. I never gave a thought to the fact that the families of Black people who were enslaved and broken up during the decades of slavery in this country would of COURSE fight to be reunited with their kin DECADES after the war. No textbook I ever had in school talked about the effects of enslavement in any detail. My only quibble with the book is that is yet another example of a “white savior” who swoops in and helps make things right.
Great historical fiction that follows two women in different time periods. One in 1875 and the other in 1987.
I loved how this book wove both current times and the past to create a masterpiece that was easy to follow, and heartbreaking to imagine.