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A review by jclare2
Glory Over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
2.0
I remember being really engrossed by [b:The Kitchen House|6837103|The Kitchen House|Kathleen Grissom|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463229128s/6837103.jpg|7048306] when I read it (certainly purchased on a bargain table). So, when I saw the sort-of sequel on another discount table late last year, I snatched it up. Unfortunately, I found most of this book really underwhelming and (except for some moments near the end) not engrossing at all.
The main character was awful. I had zero sympathy for him for the entire book. Entire. Book. I get what it was trying to portray, but it mostly came off like he was a self-involved, dithering, self-pitying, useless dude. It was satisfying when two of the supporting characters, at various times, finally call him out on this bullshit behavior toward the end of the book. I cared about most everyone else around him in the plot; I gave very few figs what happened to him.
Moreover, there was this big expanse of plot nothingness in the first half of the book. It started by teasing the tension of the book's main conflict, and then flashes back...WAY back. And there is this interminable detailing of his life in Philadelphia before this main conflict comes to pass. Most of it was uninteresting, full of detail that was not wholly relevant to the plot, and just felt like a different (uninteresting) story about a person I didn't like very much. And I had zero investment in the so-called love story. Once they finally get to the actual plot in the last part of the book, I was more compelled. As it revealed stories of runaway slaves and underground railroad supporters at the end, I found it much harder to put down (even though I still could have kicked the main character for being insufferable). But these brave, risk-taking, and often selfless people just underscored how unbelievably useless and selfish the main character was.
If you read The Kitchen House, you're better off leaving that story where it ended.
The main character was awful. I had zero sympathy for him for the entire book. Entire. Book. I get what it was trying to portray, but it mostly came off like he was a self-involved, dithering, self-pitying, useless dude. It was satisfying when two of the supporting characters, at various times, finally call him out on this bullshit behavior toward the end of the book. I cared about most everyone else around him in the plot; I gave very few figs what happened to him.
Moreover, there was this big expanse of plot nothingness in the first half of the book. It started by teasing the tension of the book's main conflict, and then flashes back...WAY back. And there is this interminable detailing of his life in Philadelphia before this main conflict comes to pass. Most of it was uninteresting, full of detail that was not wholly relevant to the plot, and just felt like a different (uninteresting) story about a person I didn't like very much. And I had zero investment in the so-called love story. Once they finally get to the actual plot in the last part of the book, I was more compelled. As it revealed stories of runaway slaves and underground railroad supporters at the end, I found it much harder to put down (even though I still could have kicked the main character for being insufferable). But these brave, risk-taking, and often selfless people just underscored how unbelievably useless and selfish the main character was.
If you read The Kitchen House, you're better off leaving that story where it ended.