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A review by year23
All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Powerful story exploring the lives of three Black women in Philadelphia pre-emancipation. They are brought together in an effort to free Evie, exploring the many complex challenges Black people faced in the North in both staying free & helping others to get free.
I felt like Evie, Nell's, and Charlotte's voices were very similar in terms of their personalities, I would have liked to see more there in terms of character development (though given the length, I think this would have been a challenge!). At the same time, they each have very a very clear mission/desire and challenge which does keep the narrative moving forward. I don't know if this is a YA novel but it reads a bit like that and I think is accessible to high schoolers and would be a great read for teens in introducing them to these themes.
The strongest parts for me were learning more about Evie and Charlotte's backgrounds and how they navigated or are navigating moving from being enslaved to free. Nell's work with the anti-slavery society too was well done in sharing more about how class & colorism (in addition to racism) intersect to make abolition more difficult to achieve.
I felt like Evie, Nell's, and Charlotte's voices were very similar in terms of their personalities, I would have liked to see more there in terms of character development (though given the length, I think this would have been a challenge!). At the same time, they each have very a very clear mission/desire and challenge which does keep the narrative moving forward. I don't know if this is a YA novel but it reads a bit like that and I think is accessible to high schoolers and would be a great read for teens in introducing them to these themes.
The strongest parts for me were learning more about Evie and Charlotte's backgrounds and how they navigated or are navigating moving from being enslaved to free. Nell's work with the anti-slavery society too was well done in sharing more about how class & colorism (in addition to racism) intersect to make abolition more difficult to achieve.