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A review by bookedupandbusy
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
4.0
This is a coming-of-age story about Lavinia, an Irish immigrant who grows up at Tall Oaks, a tobacco plantation in Virginia. When Lavinia’s parents die, she is taken in by Captain James Pike and his family.
Stories set during slavery are always hard to read but I appreciated how this was written. The story is full of characters I hated on the plantation and characters I loved for their resilience and strength.
Told in dual narratives by Lavinia, a white child and Belle, a mixed race slave in the kitchen house, the first half of the story details life as a slave in the kitchen with Lavinia overseeing the dynamics and the second half of the story focuses on Lavinia as a young adult trying to make her own life. The main themes that stood out for me were the lack of rights of women, both black and white and colourism and privileges.
This book was also recommended by Sadeqa Johnson. So if you are a Yellow Wife fan, read this book.
It is a great read, although I had reservations on the author who is white, writing the voices of black slaves in first person. I would like to think that the correct research was carried out and the appropriate people read these narratives for sensitivity.
Stories set during slavery are always hard to read but I appreciated how this was written. The story is full of characters I hated on the plantation and characters I loved for their resilience and strength.
Told in dual narratives by Lavinia, a white child and Belle, a mixed race slave in the kitchen house, the first half of the story details life as a slave in the kitchen with Lavinia overseeing the dynamics and the second half of the story focuses on Lavinia as a young adult trying to make her own life. The main themes that stood out for me were the lack of rights of women, both black and white and colourism and privileges.
This book was also recommended by Sadeqa Johnson. So if you are a Yellow Wife fan, read this book.
It is a great read, although I had reservations on the author who is white, writing the voices of black slaves in first person. I would like to think that the correct research was carried out and the appropriate people read these narratives for sensitivity.