A review by jwinchell
A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia

4.0

What are white people without their racism? Who were white people without enslaved people and slavery? Why do white people hate black people? Revised from Williams-Garcia’s words, these are the questions this hefty novel of Antebellum Louisiana asks. I wondered while reading why we were seeing this plantation life and hold on upper class social traditions instead of from a Black perspective. But as Toni Morrison said, white people have a problem; leave me out of it. And Williams-Garcia took that and left the Black people in this story in the background, a wise, knowing background, and put the floundering and idiocy of white enslavers front and center. We have to look unwaveringly at Madame’s racism and horrible treatment of Thisbe. We have to watch Lucien contract venereal disease and partake in the demise of his plantation. This is a little bit of a sleeper of a novel; I didn’t know where it was going at first with this focus on Madame’s early childhood in France. But I’m so glad I stuck with it because once the horrors of white supremacy started rolling, I could not look away. Black resilience is a strong theme. Masterfully researched; the author’s notes at the end are so impressive. Recommended for history buffs or those who want to know more about Antebellum southern history.