From the Bookshelf of Canton Public Library…

The Invention of Wings

Sue Monk Kidd

Start date: November 16, 2015

Finish date: December 19, 2015

Why we're reading this: Contemporary Book Discussion Group pick for December 2015.

Meets the third Monday of the month at 7:00PM.…more
[close] Contemporary Book Discussion Group pick for December 2015.

Meets the third Monday of the month at 7:00PM. This self-directed group is sponsored by the Friends of the Canton Public Library. No pre-registration is required.

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What Members Thought

Jun 06, 2014 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult, teen, friendship, girl-main-character, historical, biography-memoir, fiction

Once upon a time I had heard of Sarah and Angelina Grimke, but I had forgotten all about them. This was a fictionalized retelling of their lives, starting with the moment Sarah receives a slave - Handful - for her eleventh birthday. The perspective alternates between Sarah and Handful, and tells of the cruelties of slavery, the strictures of society on women, and how the two causes of abolition and women's rights became intertwined. The story was simultaneously sad, horrible, and hopeful.

Some n Once upon a time I had heard of Sarah and Angelina Grimke, but I had forgotten all about them. This was a fictionalized retelling of their lives, starting with the moment Sarah receives a slave - Handful - for her eleventh birthday. The perspective alternates between Sarah and Handful, and tells of the cruelties of slavery, the strictures of society on women, and how the two causes of abolition and women's rights became intertwined. The story was simultaneously sad, horrible, and hopeful.

Some notable bits:
Sarah's mother is a hard woman, cruel to the people she owns as well as her daughter. But there is one moment that shows the sadness in her life as well: "Every girl comes into the world with varying degrees of ambition... even if it's only the hope of not belonging body and soul to her husband. I was a girl once, believe it or not... The truth... is that every girl must have ambition knocked out of her for her own good. You are unusual only in your determination to fight what is inevitable... you must give yourself over to your duty and your fate and make whatever happiness you can." (81) This reminds me of the Disney movie, Brave, and makes me wonder what happened in the Mother's life to resign her to the way the world was, instead of fighting for the way the world should be.

Handful talking about Sarah: "She was kind to me and she was part of everything that stole my life." (172) The paradox of the "kind" slaveholder. Sarah wanted nothing to do with slavery, she was compassionate and empathetic, but she still represented everything evil about the slavery system. I thought the story did a great job in depicting the conflicted nature of slavery and showing exactly how little kindness meant in the grand scheme of stolen lives.

"Be careful, you can get enslaved twice, once in your body and once in your mind." (201) Handful tries to explain to Sarah that even though her body is enslaved, her mind is still free. And in the end, she will fight to the death to make her body free as well.
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Jul 30, 2014 Michelle Gray marked it as to-read

May 01, 2018 Amber Lovett Dhamija marked it as to-read

May 01, 2018 Colleen rated it really liked it

1 like · Like

Apr 14, 2015 Rebecca Havenstein-Coughlin marked it as to-read

May 16, 2015 Rebecca Havenstein-Coughlin marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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