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A review by caroleb
Belle by Beverly Jenkins
3.0
This was my first time reading YA historical romance and my feelings are mixed. The core story is great. Belle Palmer, a formerly enslaved young woman of 16 years saves herself by running north to freedom via the Underground Railroad and is met upon her arrival in Michigan by a 12 year old girl and her older brother, the youngest members of a family of black abolitionists. That aspect of the story, Belle’s relationship with those kids and their parents and her acclimation to a new life, is engrossing and immediately draws you in.
On the other hand, it sort of haunts me how problematic and old-fashioned the book was in its treatment of sex, how much of Belle’s characterization is delivered through her comparison to another young woman. This is especially troubling given that this book is aimed at young people and is self conscious about being a tool of learning. This book is intentionally didactic. It comes with discussion questions for schoolteachers that focus on the historic elements— from slavery and the Underground Railroad to sewing machines.
Though I was very conscious of the educational aims of the novel throughout, it didn’t dampen my enjoyment most of the time. I liked reading about how Belle becomes a part of this loving family and falls in love with the son. I liked their relationship and her growth. The primary conflict is the lingering fear of being discovered by slave catchers and the fact that Belle’s father was not so lucky. His fate is up in the air throughout the story and others in the community are similarly threatened in addition to Belle. That works fairly well although it seems as though that threat is not quite as sharp as one might expect.
So Belle settles in with her new family and they all pretty much get on with their lives cognizant of but not too much changed by the danger. As the possibility of recapture becomes less a concern, the real focus of conflict, the key impediment to Belle’s happiness then becomes the anything that threatens her relationship with Daniel and place in the family. That’s where things go off kilter.
The book is significantly weakened by a subplot involving a preexisting rival for Daniel’s affections, the pretty but vapid Francine “the Queen”. Unlike the Best family, Francine couldn’t give two hoots about slavery. She’s snobbish, selfish, and, the text makes quite clear, “fast”. In other words she is wholly unworthy of Daniel’s love. The problem is Francine is incredibly one dimensional. She’s pretty much a cartoon villain, and her villainy, her meanness, is way too closely tied to her fastness. Francine tried to embarrass Belle about her enslavement. She ridicules her (a woman just out of captivity) for her clothes. Francine is a teenager barely older than Belle, but Belle is “an innocent” and Francine is not, and that is presented as just one of the latter’s many inferior qualities.
The two young women are repeatedly compared and contrasted and pitted against one another. The text tears Francine down to build Belle up, and that’s an unfortunate and unnecessary way to build a character and a relationship. All of Francine’s attributes are intertwined to seem like equivalent, closely tied sins when Francine liking kisses or fooling around or sex shouldn’t be in any way connected to her real faults. The text overtly and repeatedly slut shames Francine, and it’s too bad, because there are so many valid reasons to shame her unlike having sexual desires, which isn’t something YA novels should be teaching kids to feel bad about.
The relationship between Daniel and Belle and Belle and the rest of the family develops nicely. I enjoyed that very much. I just wish we had heard less from this unnecessary antagonist or that she was portrayed in a more multidimensional and less sexist way.
On the other hand, it sort of haunts me how problematic and old-fashioned the book was in its treatment of sex, how much of Belle’s characterization is delivered through her comparison to another young woman. This is especially troubling given that this book is aimed at young people and is self conscious about being a tool of learning. This book is intentionally didactic. It comes with discussion questions for schoolteachers that focus on the historic elements— from slavery and the Underground Railroad to sewing machines.
Though I was very conscious of the educational aims of the novel throughout, it didn’t dampen my enjoyment most of the time. I liked reading about how Belle becomes a part of this loving family and falls in love with the son. I liked their relationship and her growth. The primary conflict is the lingering fear of being discovered by slave catchers and the fact that Belle’s father was not so lucky. His fate is up in the air throughout the story and others in the community are similarly threatened in addition to Belle. That works fairly well although it seems as though that threat is not quite as sharp as one might expect.
So Belle settles in with her new family and they all pretty much get on with their lives cognizant of but not too much changed by the danger. As the possibility of recapture becomes less a concern, the real focus of conflict, the key impediment to Belle’s happiness then becomes the anything that threatens her relationship with Daniel and place in the family. That’s where things go off kilter.
The book is significantly weakened by a subplot involving a preexisting rival for Daniel’s affections, the pretty but vapid Francine “the Queen”. Unlike the Best family, Francine couldn’t give two hoots about slavery. She’s snobbish, selfish, and, the text makes quite clear, “fast”. In other words she is wholly unworthy of Daniel’s love. The problem is Francine is incredibly one dimensional. She’s pretty much a cartoon villain, and her villainy, her meanness, is way too closely tied to her fastness. Francine tried to embarrass Belle about her enslavement. She ridicules her (a woman just out of captivity) for her clothes. Francine is a teenager barely older than Belle, but Belle is “an innocent” and Francine is not, and that is presented as just one of the latter’s many inferior qualities.
The two young women are repeatedly compared and contrasted and pitted against one another. The text tears Francine down to build Belle up, and that’s an unfortunate and unnecessary way to build a character and a relationship. All of Francine’s attributes are intertwined to seem like equivalent, closely tied sins when Francine liking kisses or fooling around or sex shouldn’t be in any way connected to her real faults. The text overtly and repeatedly slut shames Francine, and it’s too bad, because there are so many valid reasons to shame her unlike having sexual desires, which isn’t something YA novels should be teaching kids to feel bad about.
The relationship between Daniel and Belle and Belle and the rest of the family develops nicely. I enjoyed that very much. I just wish we had heard less from this unnecessary antagonist or that she was portrayed in a more multidimensional and less sexist way.