chaptersofchase 's review for:

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

5.0

challenging dark hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Take My Hand 🧡 Thank you, Berkley Publishing, for the gifted book. {partner}

Genre: Historical Fiction
Time: 1973 & 2016
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 4.12.2022
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

"They were more than illiterate farmers, more than victims who'd been duped by the federal government. They were a family, who, given other opportunities, could have accomplished much more."

When I began reading Take My Hand, I was in a reading slump. I wasn't finding anything that made me feel something other than meh. I knew Take My Hand was being published soon, so I decided to pick it up and see if the story would take hold.

Within 33 pages, I knew I had found a book that would make me feel something. I could instantly tell it would be a complex story, and I would likely need to read something light afterward. But that's the type of story that I needed.

Knowing that Take My Hand is based on a true story made the events of this novel all that more horrific to me. I was appalled, heartbroken, and outraged at the treatment women, specifically, those of color, received throughout this book. Mass sterilizations? It sounded like something out of The Handmaid's Tale - my mind could not wrap around something so inherently reprehensible.

For the last 200 pages, I felt like I was walking a tight rope of bitterness and hope. I was all over the place with my emotions. Reading as Civil said goodbye to the two girls who had helped shape her, knowing (as the reader) that she would not see them again for 40 years, was unimaginable. The ending was a perfectly illustrated example of the power of friends who turn into family and redeeming love.

I recommend you read Take My Hand if you enjoyed reading Memphis or The Nature of Fragile Things.

Do you enjoy reading historical fiction books based on a true story? If so, what have been some of your favorites?


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