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openbookheartmind's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Racism and Violence
henrygravesprince's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, and Trafficking
Minor: Classism, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Abandonment
rachelkreadsbookz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Violence
phillybookish's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Physical abuse, Racism, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death
serendipitysbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Violence
mysterymom40's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Racial slurs and Trafficking
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual assault
amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Hate crime, Slavery, Racism, Confinement, Violence, Classism, and Grief
kerryamchugh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Slavery
Minor: Violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
halkid2's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
The story focuses on four women:
• Charlotte: born into slavery, she and her father fled their Maryland plantation to establish a new life in Philadelphia, but success comes with heavy burdens for both.
• Kate: A self-involved widow and slave owner who has fallen on hard times and comes to Philadelphia to find a husband to provide her with a more stable financial situation.
• Evie: a teenage girl, enslaved by Kate, who longs to escape slavery and establish a more independent life.
• Nell: a young woman passionate about abolition, whose family is part of a small, prominent, and wealthy Black community in Philadelphia.
How these four women connect and interact -- sometimes with threats and deception, sometimes with trust and great risk-- is the foundation to this novel. For three of the women, ALL WE WERE PROMISED is their coming-of-age story where each must explore the line between right and wrong, between well-intended language and true commitment. All the while, they are surrounded by fierce defenders of slavery, slave catchers looking for bounties, and rampant racism.
This is the Ashton Lattimore's (a former attorney) debut novel and while the book is very well written, I also found it has some rookie flaws. The first half of the book is quite slow, though the drama does pick up significantly after that. Also, I found very heavy reliance on an omniscient narrator who wound up keeping me (as a reader) at a distance from the characters. Instead of discovering each character through the character's own words, I found the narrator was telling me what each was feeling and experiencing. So, I wasn't able to connect to their lives in the direct way I'd hoped, based on the book's description.
Overall, ALL WE WERE PROMISED is an interesting glimpse into our country's story of institutional slavery at one moment in time -- in a large, supposedly free Northern city 20+ years before the Civil War. If you're interested in the subject matter or this time period, I think you'll learn quite a bit.
Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping
reading_ladies_blog's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Hate crime, Slavery, Racism, Violence, and Racial slurs