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sssnoo 's review for:
Mustard Seed
by Laila Ibrahim
This is the sequel to yellow crocus. It was just a shy less well written - some sections veering off to a teachy-like tone, and the audible narrator’s use of a lisp for Sadie annoyed me. But this book, like its predecessor packed a big punch. Reconstruction era and the rise of Jim Crow laws is not covered enough in literature and this book does an excellent job at capturing the cruelty and unethical nature of those laws. The vagrancy law that was the forbearer of mass incarceration is one in particular. The way it is depicted in this book cut my soul to the core. Also, the decision of some former slaves to stay put just in case lost/sold family members could return and find them was poignant. I have, of course, not endured slavery, but some of my children are adopted from Ethiopia and we had the luck to track down their grandmother in Addis Ababa. That reunion, possible because their grandmother never moved, and seeing her reunite with grandchildren she though were forever lost to her had to be comparable to some of the scenes depicted in this book. Oh this book made me cry. The strength this country’s freed slaves had to muster just to survive their experiences is overwhelming to think about. That we still live with this legacy is something many of us need to read about to grasp and understand.
In the words of Malorie Blackman:
“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.”
In the words of Malorie Blackman:
“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.”