A review by bonafidefaygo
Of One Blood: Or, the Hidden Self by Pauline E. Hopkins

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

I have a LOT of respect for this book. Black female author writing a book in 1902 about flipping the script of white superiority to black superiority by means of black origins of all our society and the cradle of humanity and all that stuff with the overall message being that race is a construct and treating people differently by it makes literally no sense. Like the fact that this was originally published just 40 years after the civil war is actually crazy to me. And for the audacity and the bravery to write this is stunning.

However, I don't think the writing holds up at all. The characters are one dimensional, the plot is all over the place, things come out of nowhere, and I was struggling to tie all the threads together. Additionally, the writing itself is much too archaic for me in a way that is not true of other writing around this time period.

I'm glad I have an awareness of this work and the author, but it fell extremely flat for me beyond just the general ideas and themes behind it