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ablotial's review against another edition
2.0
I was over halfway through this book before I actually started to care what happened to the characters. I know, many people would have stopped reading long before that, especially with a book having as many pages as this one. But I hate to not finish a book if I can manage to get through it. And I figured I could get this through one.
The biggest challenge is the writing style. I often had to read sentences more than once in order to figure out what it was trying to say. Part of it was strange sentence constructions. Another part was different vocabulary and grammar, a stylistic representation of the way these people (southerners of both races during the 1950s) may have talked. Also I think there was maybe ONE person in this entire book who didn't have a really strange name. OK, two.
Still, there's not much of a "plot", so to speak. And the horrible event narrated at the very beginning of the story -- I expected it to be relevant somehow, but it was only ever mentioned again once, and then just in passing. It seemed a lot of this book worked that way; lots of irrelevant information.
By the end of the book I did start to care about a few of the characters, especially Joleb. To me, he was the most "real" of the characters here, with Canaan a close second. I was really surprised about Valuable's fate - was not expecting that at all.
There were some interesting parts and some parts that make you think, those were the redeeming qualities. But not a book I recommend. There are so many better books dealing with this time period and its people.
The biggest challenge is the writing style. I often had to read sentences more than once in order to figure out what it was trying to say. Part of it was strange sentence constructions. Another part was different vocabulary and grammar, a stylistic representation of the way these people (southerners of both races during the 1950s) may have talked. Also I think there was maybe ONE person in this entire book who didn't have a really strange name. OK, two.
Still, there's not much of a "plot", so to speak. And the horrible event narrated at the very beginning of the story -- I expected it to be relevant somehow, but it was only ever mentioned again once, and then just in passing. It seemed a lot of this book worked that way; lots of irrelevant information.
By the end of the book I did start to care about a few of the characters, especially Joleb. To me, he was the most "real" of the characters here, with Canaan a close second. I was really surprised about Valuable's fate - was not expecting that at all.
There were some interesting parts and some parts that make you think, those were the redeeming qualities. But not a book I recommend. There are so many better books dealing with this time period and its people.
dreavg's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
reytru1065's review against another edition
3.0
A very slow story but nonetheless a good read. I give it 3 stars due to the slow pase.
kandicez's review against another edition
3.0
The way this book was written was beautiful an dimpressive. The story, not so much...
marilynsaul's review against another edition
1.0
Thank you to the many other reviewers who stated that they just couldn't get into this book. I totally agree. Made it easier for me to let it go. Had to abandon it early - as one other reviewer wrote, life is just too short. This is the 2nd Oprah book that I've disliked in the last two weeks. Her picks used to be consistently good, but I think she must have changed readers (certain she doesn't actually read these herself) because I'm 0-2.
pbarish18's review against another edition
4.0
The prose is occasionally very dense, but the story tying the characters together is quite touching and I thought the examination of race, family, and love in the Jim Crow South was fascinating.
katymvt's review against another edition
4.0
2018 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge--a book from a celebrity book club (Oprah)
jessicabrazeal's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't love this one. I wanted to, but I just couldn't get into the language and style. I was bummed because I love a book about the South, but I just didn't love this one.