From the Bookshelf of Bound Together…

The Invention of Wings

Sue Monk Kidd

Start date: June 22, 2019

Finish date: July 31, 2019

Why we're reading this: July Members Choice
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Dec 19, 2013 Chrissie rated it liked it

Shelves: race, usa, 2014-read, downpour, hf, southern, feminism

I KNOW my emotional response to this book. I liked it, so three stars it has to get. But why? What is it that has prevented me from giving it more?

Please read the above book summary. I am not going to repeat all of that. I assume you know that this book is based on the two real-life Grimke sisters that fought for the Abolitionist and Women's Rights movement in the 1830s and 1840s.

The book is well researched. It has an excellent epilogue that in detail specifies what is and is not fictional. Man I KNOW my emotional response to this book. I liked it, so three stars it has to get. But why? What is it that has prevented me from giving it more?

Please read the above book summary. I am not going to repeat all of that. I assume you know that this book is based on the two real-life Grimke sisters that fought for the Abolitionist and Women's Rights movement in the 1830s and 1840s.

The book is well researched. It has an excellent epilogue that in detail specifies what is and is not fictional. Many of the characters really did exist and they are woven into the fictional events. It is the fictional story that gives me trouble. In reality Sarah Grimke was given a personal slave when she was eleven, Hetty (of ten years), but this slave soon died. Here she lives on and is used by the author to show us the horrors of slave life in Charleston, South Carolina. It is this fictional story that doesn't ring true to me. There are cups of tea on roof tops, things like that, which create a feel good story that people so love...... but which didn't work for me.

And I will not talk of the ending; how realistic is that?

The theme of slave quilting is pretty too. Too pretty? Too sweet? Is it a gimmick to tie the story together?

Slavery is bad. Of course, but there is no discussion of why so many people refused to abandon it. Nothing of the economic basis for slavery in the South is discussed. Am I too much of a non-fiction book lover for this? Should I give up on historical fiction completely?

The narration by Jenna Lamia who voices Sarah's story and Adepero Oduye who speaks Hetty's, the slave girl's story, are distinct. I like how each uses their own appropriate vocabularies. Sarah is genteel, clearly from the upper crust, the slave owning class; her speech and choice of words well reflect this. Hetty's is exactly as expected, that of a slave's, with a diction that matches. Each uses a language that seems genuine. BUT at the end of the novel, when both are middle-aged woman, they still sound like teenagers. This, along with the author's feel good touch, had me thinking this was more a young adult novel than a serious one for adults. ...more

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Dec 20, 2013 ☮Karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: overdrive

"We're all yearning for a wedge of sky, aren't we? I suspect God plants these yearnings in us so we'll at least try and change the course of things. We must try, that's all."

This quote comes somewhat late in the book and late in Sarah Grimke's struggle to find a place for herself in the world of the early 1800s. Sarah grew up in slave-laden, female-suppressing Charleston, SC. She aspired to be more than any other woman had dared aspire to, to become a lawyer, and to do something about freeing th ...more

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Oct 24, 2014 Barbara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-library-bk-grp

I listened to this on audio. Love that they had two readers, one for Sarah and one for Handful. I enjoyed listened to both of the readers.

Sarah gets a slave on her 11th birthday. Sarah is kinder towards slaves than her mother. She gets handful and they kind of grown up together.

Sarah and Handful both see their fair share of torture of slaves and injustices. Sarah decides she wants to be a lawyer but eventually wants to free the slaves and makes waves with the white folks. Her mother doesn't li ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Ellen Librarian rated it it was amazing

I was very leery of reading this book as I'm pretty tired of slavery novels. But this is a beautiful book, beautifully written, engaging and thought-provoking. ...more

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Feb 04, 2014 Karen rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, 2014

a look at slavery, abolition, family,and race. I wish it had something new to it...lyrical of course but didn't grip me the way bees did. ...more

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Jan 26, 2014 Martha rated it really liked it

Fabulous, as Sue Monk Kidd always is. Startlingly well drawn characters, and a story that grips your heart.

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Jan 19, 2014 Christina, Join Me on Storygraph! rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014

I enjoyed the story but it feels the ending wrapped up quickly for my liking. for a conflict filled story, the end seemed a bit too easy. I may have been too anxious for finishing and missed something but I dont think that's the case. at any rate, I'm glad I read... I feel I now have a different perspective on abolition and women's lives in the early/mid 19th century. ...more

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