Review: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Published: September 2019
 

Hiram Walker was born into slavery. He doesn't remember much about his mother except that she was taken from him at a very young age. Hiram was born with special gifts, that he discovers when his life is in danger. Will he have to continue to live a life of slavery, or will he find a way out of his situation and find out what happened to his mother.

When I picked this title as my Book of the Month selection, I was very excited to read it. I'm not a big fan of non-fiction so I haven't read any of Ta-Nehisi's other books. I did try, Between the World and Me, but it never really grabbed my attention.

From the start I was engrossed in The Water Dancer. I loved the way the story was being told. Shortly through, though I found myself getting lost in the words and having to go back and read passages. This happened several times throughout the book and I found myself wanting to put it down and give up on it, but I stuck with it and overall it wasn't too bad. I'm giving it 3.5 stars for all of the stopping and rereading I had to do.

This was definitely a new take on the story of the Underground Railroad. We even have the opportunity to meet Harriet Tubman in this book. After finishing the book, we watched the movie Harriet that my daughter has been wanting to see since it was released. There were a lot of things in the movie, that I recall from the book and that made the book a little more interesting after the fact. Weaving actual truth into the story makes it a little better for me.

The story takes you on a journey through Hiram Walker's life, from his time living and working on the plantation, to when he is able to move into the big house where his father, the master lives. We see him grieve for several members of his community, but none more than the mother he can't remember, even though he is often put on display for his memory.

If you're struggling through the book, I say stick with it, it is worth it in the end.

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Review--The House Girl by Tara Conklin

The House Girl by Tara Conklin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Carolina Sparrow is a first year lawyer working in New York City. She is great at her job and her boss, Dan has told her that she is on track to become an excellent lawyer. Josephine Bell is a slave at the Bell Plantation in southern Virginia. It is the mid-1800's and she is ready to leave the slave life for something better. When a company contacts Lina's law firm to collect reparations for the slaves, Lina is given the task of finding a plaintiff who is a direct descendant of a slave. When Luann Bell's artwork comes into question at a local art exhibit, claiming the work could have been done by her house girl, Josephine, Lina uses this opening to find the plaintiff she may need. The book takes us back and forth between Lina and Josephine. Lina, trying to find a direct descendant of Josephine Bell and Josephine, trying to escape the Bell Plantation.

I'm torn between giving this book 3-4 stars. I was thoroughly intrigued by the subject matter, but didn't find myself running to read/listen to this book. I think part of this was due to the fact that for a few weeks, reading wasn't appealing to me and everything I picked up, I didn't find interesting enough to keep reading.

One really interesting aspect to this book was the racial divide. Lina, is a white girl from New York looking for descendants for a slave who escaped in 1852, shortly after the lady of the house passed away. This discovery takes Lina on a journey through Virginia that she never anticipated. She will uncover things that will turn history on end. This book has been on my TBR list for a while. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was thoroughly surprised. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in this subject matter or for a good book, with a deep historical message. I look forward to reading more books by Tara Conklin.


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Review--Gray Mountain by John Grisham

Gray Mountain by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Samantha Kofer is a real estate attorney working for a huge law firm in New York City.  When all of the banks go belly up so does Samantha's job.  She was given the option to being furloughed for one year and during that year, she is encouraged to volunteer during this year off at a non-profit that the firm has chosen.

Trying to find the right place to volunteer has been difficult since there are so many out of work lawyers who are all going through the same thing.  She found "The Mountain Legal Aid Clinic[who]ran its low-budget operations from an abandoned hardware store on Main Street in Brady, Virginia, population twenty-two hundred and declining with each census  Brady, was in southwest, Virginia, Appalachia, coal country."

In Brady, Samantha works with Mattie and Annette and meets many of their clients who are poor people in need of everything from simple divorces and wills to black lung disease claims  Mattie's nephew, Donovan, is also in Brady and his firm fights coal companies tooth and nail for the people of coal country who have been destroyed by their illegal practices. There are a lot of things that happen that help to shape Samantha into a more respectable lawyer, but they don't come without great loss.

John Grisham likes to get the heart of the matter, he likes to grip at your heartstrings so that you can feel the characters that he is portraying.  For a big New York City attorney, though, Samantha is not really a character I got to enjoy as much as I thought I would.  She seemed a bit of a wimp in some instances.  Whining about never setting foot in a courtroom or drafting a will.  I wanted to jump in the book and smack her one good time.  Whether or not you have done these things, you are a lawyer, and is this not in your job description?  This is one of the worse John Grisham books I have read.  It didn't have the same go getter attitude that the other books have.

Overall, the book kept me interested and wanting to know what was going to happen next.  There were parts that had me on the edge of my seat.  I'm wondering if there is going to be more from Samantha Kofer, because the story seemed unfinished.



First title in Take Control of Your TBR 2015!



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