Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Invention of Wings

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The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

6 reviews

woodsymel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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midnightmarauder's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Invention of Wings is a fictionalized account of the life of Sarah Moore Grimké, a woman who led one of the first abolitionist and feminist movements alongside her sister, Angelina, in the mid to late 1800s.

On Sarah's eleventh birthday, she is "gifted" a slave girl named Handful. Sarah, already extremely against slavery at such a young age, initially rejects her "present", but, after being told that she couldn't do so, her and Handful become very close.

Handful lives up to her name, being defiant toward both Sarah and the Grimké household as a whole in the beginning of the novel. But, after getting to know Sarah more and hearing her personal stance of slavery, she warms up to her and the two become friends.

The story is written in a non-linear writing style, alternating between both Sarah and Handful's point-of-views, and different time periods from 1806 to 1836. Through these time periods, Handful works on the Grimké property and dreams of being free someday, while Sarah works toward her goal of the emancipation of all slaves, along with racial equality and rights for women.

I feel that Sue Monk Kidd did an excellent job at telling both Sarah and Handful's stories. People who write about white abolitionists tend to hold them to a god-like standard, without bothering to even mention their slaves (if they had any). Kidd took the time to humanize Handful and make it clear that she was a person, too, not just someone who sat on the sidelines.

I do wish that Kidd had given more depth to Handful's point of view. I know there wasn't much she could cover, as Handful was enslaved for the entire book

until the end

, but I just feel like a little bit more could've been given to her story.

All in all, I went into this book not knowing anything about either Sarah nor Handful. I hadn't even heard their names before. I really enjoyed reading about each woman's push toward equality for all.

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kshertz's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-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

4.0

I wasn’t sure about this book when I started off because I really don’t love having any more enslaved tales and I really don’t love a white person telling an enslaved tale from the perspective of an enslaved person but this is very well done. It really helps me that all of these people were real people and then the story itself is the only fictional part. It was exciting. I couldn’t put it down. It was also heavy. But I think it accomplished what it meant too. If you’re interested in history before the Civil War then might be interested in this book. they definitely did the research.

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