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anyaemilie 's review for:
Conjure Women
by Afia Atakora
Thank you to Random House for the ARC!
This book took me a while to get into--whether that's because of the book or the fact that the world is falling apart, I'm not sure. So I'm inclined not to hold that against the book.
Conjure Women tells the story of Miss May Belle, the healing woman on a plantation, in the Slaverytime chapters, and of her daughter Rue, who takes over the same work, in the Freedomtime chapters. The chapters alternate between the two women, and also weave in the story of Varina, the daughter of the plantation master and the owner of the women before they were freed by the Civil War.
I think what I enjoyed most was piecing together the story from the alternating viewpoints. In Rue's chapters, early in the book, she mentions that the former owners of the plantation have all died and that their house is burnt down. But we don't find out how that all played out until nearly the end of the book when it's revealed in one of the flashback chapters.
I also really liked the intertwining stories of all the women in the book. They were all slaves living on the same land their whole lives, even after they were freed. The women really ran the show, and the men, most of the time, just caused trouble. This book really emphasized the deep connection to nature that Rue and May Belle had, and also the connection to the land they had lived on their whole lives.
The magical elements intertwined with the spirituality and religious beliefs of the other slaves was also super interesting to me. You never quite know if what Rue and May Belle do is truly magic, or just skilled healing and logic. And I like that you don't really know.
I read a summary of this book that made it sound like Varina (the white mistress) had an equal part in the story as Rue and May Belle did, but she's really more of a background character in my opinion. Yes, she has the biggest role in the book out of all the white people, but compared to what we learn about Rue and May Belle, she's seems more of a background character in what is truly Rue's story.
This book took me a while to get into--whether that's because of the book or the fact that the world is falling apart, I'm not sure. So I'm inclined not to hold that against the book.
Conjure Women tells the story of Miss May Belle, the healing woman on a plantation, in the Slaverytime chapters, and of her daughter Rue, who takes over the same work, in the Freedomtime chapters. The chapters alternate between the two women, and also weave in the story of Varina, the daughter of the plantation master and the owner of the women before they were freed by the Civil War.
I think what I enjoyed most was piecing together the story from the alternating viewpoints. In Rue's chapters, early in the book, she mentions that the former owners of the plantation have all died and that their house is burnt down. But we don't find out how that all played out until nearly the end of the book when it's revealed in one of the flashback chapters.
I also really liked the intertwining stories of all the women in the book. They were all slaves living on the same land their whole lives, even after they were freed. The women really ran the show, and the men, most of the time, just caused trouble. This book really emphasized the deep connection to nature that Rue and May Belle had, and also the connection to the land they had lived on their whole lives.
The magical elements intertwined with the spirituality and religious beliefs of the other slaves was also super interesting to me. You never quite know if what Rue and May Belle do is truly magic, or just skilled healing and logic. And I like that you don't really know.
I read a summary of this book that made it sound like Varina (the white mistress) had an equal part in the story as Rue and May Belle did, but she's really more of a background character in my opinion. Yes, she has the biggest role in the book out of all the white people, but compared to what we learn about Rue and May Belle, she's seems more of a background character in what is truly Rue's story.