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queengwen's review
4.0
There is something about the book that I enjoyed, I just can't put my finger on it. The reminds me to find more literature fiction and nonfiction about life for blacks after the civil war. My class has a essay due for this book, I don't know what to write about.
tales_of_erasmo's review
4.0
This was yet another book read for class. I was not expecting to enjoy this, but i found the story and plot to be absolutely fascinating and jaw dropping. Seriously, the situations that go on in this book and the things that happen to the characters is just mind-blowing. This NEEDS to be adapted into a film or a tv show or a mini-series or something! The characters really stick with you and are enjoyable to read. I'm glad I was forced to read this!
christytidwell's review
2.0
Somewhat interesting as a part of African American political and literary history, but if it weren't on my PhD reading list I would never have finished it. It's not bad, but its techniques come from a genre I have not come to really appreciate--the sentimental novel--and its attempts at being a political novel (explicitly claimed in Hopkins' preface to the book) are seriously undercut by Hopkins' adherence to the genre conventions of the sentimental novel.
gengelcox's review
2.0
Written in 1899, at the end of the heyday of the sentimental romance genre, this was--I feel--a subversive application of the style. Likely written for a white audience, the African-American authoress was determined to counter some of the more pernicious rumors about blacks, especially black women. To use today's terms, Hopkins was floating her own memes, including the idea that the mulatto, rather than being a tragic figure that could not survive in either the black or white world, was actually a strong bridge between the two races. Or that black women were not "hypersexual," but that the intermixture of the races was much more the fault of white male desires.
As fiction, it suffers from the conventions of its genre as much as Hopkins obvious proselytizing. For the student of history, however, its depiction of black life in the 1900s is a treasure trove. Hopkins even recreates the famous debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois through the mouths of her characters. Interesting as a historical document; not sure that I could recommend this for entertainment, however.
As fiction, it suffers from the conventions of its genre as much as Hopkins obvious proselytizing. For the student of history, however, its depiction of black life in the 1900s is a treasure trove. Hopkins even recreates the famous debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois through the mouths of her characters. Interesting as a historical document; not sure that I could recommend this for entertainment, however.
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