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odomaf's review against another edition
3.0
This is not the kind of book I usually read. I apparently downloaded it to my kindle a while ago - maybe because it was free? I didn't even reread the description before I started in on it, or I might have just deleted it. I go for urban fantasy, paranormal, sexy/erotic, fast-paced adventure books.
But once I started this book, even after I realized the pain I was in for, I didn't put it down. It felt like it needed a witness, and it would be socially irresponsible to dismiss it as "the kind of fiction I didn't like". It's easy for us to dismiss history like this as "long ago" and to convince ourselves that we've overcome the kinds of challenges emancipation brought to America. This book simultaneously reminded me how far we've come and how very far we have yet to go.
WHAT I LIKED
---------------------
* The historical education. I generally consider myself well educated, but there were so many pieces in this book that proved otherwise. This alone was one of my significant reasons for reading to the end. I should *know* that black people had the right to vote and had it *taken away*, rather than walking around with the erroneous assumption that they didn't have that right until far after the end of the civil war. This review would go on forever if I listed everything I had my eyes opened to.
* The accepting way violence is portrayed. It was so fundamentally part of the main character's existence that it's presented with the same off-hand manner that you'd say you went to the grocery store. The visceral horror of those disconnected observations still sticks with me.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
------------------------
* The book is fairly slow moving. When I got to the fights with the Indians, I felt like things really started to bog down. The juxtaposition of the treatment of black people and the treatment of Indians started out highly effective, but ultimately it bogged down enough that it lost it's teeth.
* Around the middle, I felt like things were wandering a little bit, and I started to wonder where things were actually going. This is a book where the whole thing is a crisis of faith, and the climax and resolution are ultimately the same thing --- and both don't happen until the end. That kind of had me lost along the way, as far as understanding the purpose of the plot. This could well be intentional, as the main character himself is lost as well. My husband (who's studied this kind of literature as an academic) tells me this "journey" type of narrative generally follow this format. So this aspect, while I didn't care for it, didn't affect my rating.
If you have time, you enjoy realistic historical fiction, and you like a thoughtful read (not a page turner), this may well be a book for you to pick up.
But once I started this book, even after I realized the pain I was in for, I didn't put it down. It felt like it needed a witness, and it would be socially irresponsible to dismiss it as "the kind of fiction I didn't like". It's easy for us to dismiss history like this as "long ago" and to convince ourselves that we've overcome the kinds of challenges emancipation brought to America. This book simultaneously reminded me how far we've come and how very far we have yet to go.
WHAT I LIKED
---------------------
* The historical education. I generally consider myself well educated, but there were so many pieces in this book that proved otherwise. This alone was one of my significant reasons for reading to the end. I should *know* that black people had the right to vote and had it *taken away*, rather than walking around with the erroneous assumption that they didn't have that right until far after the end of the civil war. This review would go on forever if I listed everything I had my eyes opened to.
* The accepting way violence is portrayed. It was so fundamentally part of the main character's existence that it's presented with the same off-hand manner that you'd say you went to the grocery store. The visceral horror of those disconnected observations still sticks with me.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
------------------------
* The book is fairly slow moving. When I got to the fights with the Indians, I felt like things really started to bog down. The juxtaposition of the treatment of black people and the treatment of Indians started out highly effective, but ultimately it bogged down enough that it lost it's teeth.
* Around the middle, I felt like things were wandering a little bit, and I started to wonder where things were actually going. This is a book where the whole thing is a crisis of faith, and the climax and resolution are ultimately the same thing --- and both don't happen until the end. That kind of had me lost along the way, as far as understanding the purpose of the plot. This could well be intentional, as the main character himself is lost as well. My husband (who's studied this kind of literature as an academic) tells me this "journey" type of narrative generally follow this format. So this aspect, while I didn't care for it, didn't affect my rating.
If you have time, you enjoy realistic historical fiction, and you like a thoughtful read (not a page turner), this may well be a book for you to pick up.
sharksfan32's review against another edition
5.0
loved this book. it is not the kind of book I usually read.
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