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A review by ifyouhappentoremember
Jubilee by Margaret Walker
5.0
4.5
Jubilee follows the life of a slave named Vyry, based on the life of Margaret Walker's great-grandmother. Vyry is one of the many unacknowledged children of her master and her enslaved mother. We follow Vyry's life through three major periods of American history: the Antebellum era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
From the first chapter, the reader is thrust into a grim reality. The book starts at the deathbed of a slave - Hetta. She is dying from complications of a difficult book in which the baby did not survive; the pregnancy is the result of her years-long sexual relationship with the master of the plantation, John Dutton. Her youngest surviving child, a 2-year-old girl named Vyry is brought to Hetta's bedside so she can see the face of one of her children (the rest have been sold away), one last time.
It would be easy to reduce Jubilee as a pointed counterpoint to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. And yes, Jubilee is the dose of reality amongst the sea of nostalgia fiction that romanticizes the Southern Antebellum era. But Jubilee is a compelling book in its own right - Vyry is a character you can't help but admire. She has a quiet strength of character and never loses her hope and kindness throughout the pain, heartbreak, and injustice.
I inhaled this book. I probably could have finished it within 2 days if it wasn't for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Jubilee follows the life of a slave named Vyry, based on the life of Margaret Walker's great-grandmother. Vyry is one of the many unacknowledged children of her master and her enslaved mother. We follow Vyry's life through three major periods of American history: the Antebellum era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
From the first chapter, the reader is thrust into a grim reality. The book starts at the deathbed of a slave - Hetta. She is dying from complications of a difficult book in which the baby did not survive; the pregnancy is the result of her years-long sexual relationship with the master of the plantation, John Dutton. Her youngest surviving child, a 2-year-old girl named Vyry is brought to Hetta's bedside so she can see the face of one of her children (the rest have been sold away), one last time.
It would be easy to reduce Jubilee as a pointed counterpoint to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. And yes, Jubilee is the dose of reality amongst the sea of nostalgia fiction that romanticizes the Southern Antebellum era. But Jubilee is a compelling book in its own right - Vyry is a character you can't help but admire. She has a quiet strength of character and never loses her hope and kindness throughout the pain, heartbreak, and injustice.
I inhaled this book. I probably could have finished it within 2 days if it wasn't for the Thanksgiving holiday.