Scan barcode
A review by jennsbookstack
A More Perfect Union by Tammye Huf
5.0
This was a beautiful, heart-wrenching story. It is inspired by the author’s real life great-great grandparents. Henry is an Irish immigrant from County Cork who heads to America to escape the destitute and starving conditions during the potato famine. Sarah is an enslaved woman who he meets by chance and quickly falls for. The story is also narrated by Maple, a "white-passing" enslaved woman whose lens offers yet another perspective on the twisted reality of slavery.
As a white man who is also an outsider to this country, Henry’s perspective on slavery is incredibly insightful and really amplifies the way white America justified (& often retroactively continues to justify) the practice of slavery and the superiority of whites over Blacks. Though I often find stories about the realities of slavery disturbing (because it is) for these reasons, I appreciated the many layers of this story and the interactions of the characters offered so much depth of understanding into the complexities of the times and the way we look at it historically.
I loved and appreciated so much about the way the author told this story. It reminded me often of Kindred, by Octavia Butler, and I loved the way she wove in Henry’s lived experiences as an Irish immigrant and his own hardships back in Ireland. “America is a lie.” In many ways, yes. And for many, it continues to be so.
“A More Perfect Union” is a beautiful book and I would definitely recommend it.
As a white man who is also an outsider to this country, Henry’s perspective on slavery is incredibly insightful and really amplifies the way white America justified (& often retroactively continues to justify) the practice of slavery and the superiority of whites over Blacks. Though I often find stories about the realities of slavery disturbing (because it is) for these reasons, I appreciated the many layers of this story and the interactions of the characters offered so much depth of understanding into the complexities of the times and the way we look at it historically.
I loved and appreciated so much about the way the author told this story. It reminded me often of Kindred, by Octavia Butler, and I loved the way she wove in Henry’s lived experiences as an Irish immigrant and his own hardships back in Ireland. “America is a lie.” In many ways, yes. And for many, it continues to be so.
“A More Perfect Union” is a beautiful book and I would definitely recommend it.