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A review by kmhst25
Iola Leroy by Frances E.W. Harper
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I am generally a sucker for an old book where nothing much happens and the text conveys a social lesson, but Iola Leroy takes the form entirely too far, even for me. The bulk of the text is dialectic conversation conveying a completely transparent moral principle. The actual events of the novel are largely rushed past, in preference of having the characters moralize about them.
I learned a few things about the black experience of Reconstruction, but this was not a fun read. I think only a historian or someone deeply interested in the history of African-American female authors would get much out of this one; I wouldn't recommend it as a novel.
I learned a few things about the black experience of Reconstruction, but this was not a fun read. I think only a historian or someone deeply interested in the history of African-American female authors would get much out of this one; I wouldn't recommend it as a novel.