shereadytoread's Reviews (806)

I think this book is absolutely worth reading, but I can’t rate it based on what it is. 

The author presents an amazingly well researched book on the lives of biracial enslaved people in America. The issue is this book is published as a biography of Mary Lumpkin. While she is definitely emphasized and what we know of her life is thoroughly discussed, by the authors own admission as an enslaved woman, there is little to no documentation of her own words and little confirmed documentation of her life outside of confirmed information about her living in the prison, having children with the prison owner, and her demands that her children be free and what is documented of her husbands business and legal activities. 

However there is a TON of information about many enslaved biracial individuals, general history of multiple states fighting for or against slavery, important organizations and schools and lives of enslaved people who were better documented. I absolutely think this book is worth reading, but the information on Mary Lumpkin (outside of inferences about what she may have done in various situations) could fill about a chapter and a half of the book itself. If this was marketed as a book about biracial individuals and the history of slavery, it would easily be a 5 star read for me. 

This is very much a gothic thriller. It is slow and it big on atmosphere. There is not big in your face plot twists (but there are definitely a few plot twists that shocked me). I love how it modernizes the gothic horror while still holding true to the genre. 

Reviewing and rating this book was hard because it is so deeply personal. It doesn't read like most memoirs where they are trying to pass on lessons through their experiences, but more just a reflection of what she experienced. I think that while we have all seen a lot of the major events in the media, what strikes me most is how she recounts her internalization of the messages she received, even beyond the death of her mother. I think it is definitely worth the read, if not just for the lesson of how romanticizing the dead holds us back at times. 

This was an excellent collection that also includes a great bibliography for all the writers included. I do wish there was a bit more variety as it was an anthology in the topics covered but I enjoyed them all nonetheless.

 

This book was TOUGH. It’s a conversion camp story so obvious TW for anything associated with homophobia or conversion therapy. It is pretty interesting though some things weren’t fleshed out quite enough for them to make sense. 

This was a rough read. I read it in one sitting. The story was heartbreaking but it was incredibly well-written. I think overall a difficult reality for people to accept, that many did what they felt they had to in order to protect their own children with little to no agency and choice. Definitely check TW on this one. 

This book was so much fun. I enjoyed watching the MC Riley try to overcome the horrors while struggling with her anxiety. Both a blessing and curse in the story, she along with the other characters have to confront their own pasts and secrets while trying to survive. I enjoyed the pacing and the tense build. There was some good diverse rep and the character's differences were embraced. I enjoyed the story and the group of characters.