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ahammertoo's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
jansbookcorner's review
4.0
Another good historical fiction book from Lisa Wingate. The parallel stories worked well with an interesting thread connecting them. As it states in the book, it is a reminder that while history may not be pleasant, we can't change it. We can only learn from it and try to do better.
scigeek22's review
2.0
I was a fan of Wingates’ previous novel "Before We Were Yours".. For some reason, I just couldn’t get into this one. I love the research she does in her books and how she manages to make history alive. The beginning was just too dry/slow for me and I almost quit. I found useless description and very repetitiveness throughout the book. Honestly, I was bored to death and I struggled to finish this for a book club meeting coming up. I will chalk this up as one of Wingates' less than favorable books. I will give her another read in the future.
kirstin9609's review against another edition
5.0
Loved, loved, loved! I want another book about Hannie and Benny. I balled by page 12 and couldn’t put this book down after that. So well written and the character development was fantastic.
pam2375's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book! The Book of Lost Friends will be hard to beat for 2020. I suspect that it will be my favorite for the year.
Each chapter is written in alternating timelines. In 1875 we meet Hannie, a former slave and 1987, Benny a new school teacher, trying to get through to her kids, in a very rural area of Louisiana.
Sometimes reading books with alternating timelines like this can be very confusing and you simply wonder how they are going to intersect, WELLLLLLLLL, Ms Wingate did a wonderful job of tying the two together. I loved everything about this book.
I knew nothing about post Civil War and the "Lost Friends" newspaper article. Apparently, the freed slaves would post family names in the hopes of reconnecting with family members that had been ripped from their lives. These posts would circulate through the Black churches to be read by the pastor. The chapters that begin with the "lost friends" adds were heartbreaking.
I rarely (almost never) quote from books that I read, however, this is a quote that has stayed with me: "We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name."
Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine Books for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release in April 2020.
Each chapter is written in alternating timelines. In 1875 we meet Hannie, a former slave and 1987, Benny a new school teacher, trying to get through to her kids, in a very rural area of Louisiana.
Sometimes reading books with alternating timelines like this can be very confusing and you simply wonder how they are going to intersect, WELLLLLLLLL, Ms Wingate did a wonderful job of tying the two together. I loved everything about this book.
I knew nothing about post Civil War and the "Lost Friends" newspaper article. Apparently, the freed slaves would post family names in the hopes of reconnecting with family members that had been ripped from their lives. These posts would circulate through the Black churches to be read by the pastor. The chapters that begin with the "lost friends" adds were heartbreaking.
I rarely (almost never) quote from books that I read, however, this is a quote that has stayed with me: "We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name."
Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine Books for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release in April 2020.