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A review by cc_shelflove
Wade in the Water by Nyani Nkrumah
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
To date, I’ve read quite a few historical novels surrounding slavery and the civil rights movement. Up there with Take My Hand, this may be one of the most gripping, cruel, and powerful accounts of racism I’ve encountered. When the “white lady,” Miss Katherine St. James, turns up on the black side of Ricksville, Mississippi, all hell breaks loose. A young girl named Ella becomes increasingly curious about Miss St. James’s intentions. While Ella is snooping, the two form a highly unexpected bond. There is a lot I can say about Miss St. James’s past, but I think it is best to go into this one blind. Nkrumah did such an amazing job with this novel, including pieces of true American history such as the story of three civil rights workers who were killed by the KKK in 1964. A book I will not easily forget, and it was a debut?! Wow.
“On the way home from Nate’s, I thought about what I had heard. I wondered why some people hated black people so much when they had gotten so much out of them. Worked them to the bone in slavery and yet called them lazy. That didn’t make sense.”
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Sexual violence, Slavery, Cursing, Racial slurs, Murder, Sexual content, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Racism, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and Mental illness
Moderate: Blood, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Self harm, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content