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d_jemme 's review for:
The Book of Lost Friends
by Lisa Wingate
After a couple of less-than-savory audiobook experiences, I finally googled "other narrators that are fantastic like Julia Whalen" and landed here.
I'm so glad I did. It's wonderfully narrated and I'm utterly captivated by this story, and gutted, again, by the truths of American history. Chattel slavery treated people like livestock - branding them, breeding them, and selling off their children - and that kind of damage is not healed with a singular emancipation event. Well-researched fiction turns these experiences into things we can better try and feel and understand in a new, more visceral way. And instead of fighting it, we should.
The Book of Lost Friends is a history lesson, and also a lesson on generational trauma and reclaiming family history. That being said, my one small gripe with this book was what felt like a big touch of white saviorism on the part of Benny Silva. I am aware that she drops into Augustine with her own pile of generational trauma to redeem herself from, but... I hoped I'd eventually escape my personal gripe about this by the end, and I did not. Your mileage may vary but Benny's very much a Freedom Writer, if you know what I mean.
I'm so glad I did. It's wonderfully narrated and I'm utterly captivated by this story, and gutted, again, by the truths of American history. Chattel slavery treated people like livestock - branding them, breeding them, and selling off their children - and that kind of damage is not healed with a singular emancipation event. Well-researched fiction turns these experiences into things we can better try and feel and understand in a new, more visceral way. And instead of fighting it, we should.
The Book of Lost Friends is a history lesson, and also a lesson on generational trauma and reclaiming family history. That being said, my one small gripe with this book was what felt like a big touch of white saviorism on the part of Benny Silva. I am aware that she drops into Augustine with her own pile of generational trauma to redeem herself from, but... I hoped I'd eventually escape my personal gripe about this by the end, and I did not. Your mileage may vary but Benny's very much a Freedom Writer, if you know what I mean.