Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just read Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. It is a historical fiction novel about a young Black nurse in rural Alabama in 1973 who blows the whistle on sterilization without consent for poor, Black women and girls.
I have very mixed feelings about this book and am somewhat baffled by the amazing reviews that it received. On a positive note - I learned a lot about the unjust practice of forced birth control and sterilization in a post-segregation time in Alabama (and actually, around the US) that prompted me to do more reading and learning about the subject.
On a negative note - the book itself isn't very well written. The characters all seem so flat and one-dimensional. The reader rarely gets any insight as to how they feel or what motivates them unless the author has them state their feelings out loud. There was so much more that could have been developed in this story, but the author chose to focus on the lawsuit that came of Civil's whistleblowing and let the characters, including two young girls who forcible had sterilization surgery for no other reason than they were Black and poor, just drift around without adding any real depth to them.
Spoiler
Also - there was this uncomfortable, odd flirtatious romance between the nurse, Civil, and the father of these two young girls. It was awkward to read as it felt forced and superfluous. Why???
I just read Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. It is a historical fiction novel about a young Black nurse in rural Alabama in 1973 who blows the whistle on sterilization without consent for poor, Black women and girls.
I have very mixed feelings about this book and am somewhat baffled by the amazing reviews that it received. On a positive note - I learned a lot about the unjust practice of forced birth control and sterilization in a post-segregation time in Alabama (and actually, around the US) that prompted me to do more reading and learning about the subject.
On a negative note - the book itself isn't very well written. The characters all seem so flat and one-dimensional. The reader rarely gets any insight as to how they feel or what motivates them unless the author has them state their feelings out loud. There was so much more that could have been developed in this story, but the author chose to focus on the lawsuit that came of Civil's whistleblowing and let the characters, including two young girls who forcible had sterilization surgery for no other reason than they were Black and poor, just drift around without adding any real depth to them.
Spoiler
Also - there was this uncomfortable, odd flirtatious romance between the nurse, Civil, and the father of these two young girls. It was awkward to read as it felt forced and superfluous. Why???
Glad I read it. Wouldn't recommend it.
I agree with you, also felt it wasn't very well written. I only gave it 3 stars and wouldn't recommend it.
Trying to keep track here and I think maybe I haven't been posting as regularly.
I did read Demon Copperhead and was surprised at how good I thought it was. It was a great read, and very impactful.
Many of the books that get recommended, I do enjoy but after a while, I feel that they don't live up to the hype.
I read Take My Hand and saw from my write up here, that I gave it 4.5 stars. I did think I learned a lot from it, but I will totally agree about the unnecessary romance and the one dimension of the characters.
I read The Nature of Fragile Things and while I enjoyed reading it and thought it was a good story, I think maybe the author is writing too much as the first one or two that I read of hers I loved and after that, just tired.
I read The Netanyahus and thought it was terrible. I did finish it because it is a pretty short book. It won a Pulitzer Prize, by the way but for me I find that the majority of prize winners are snores for me. It just made no sense. It is fictionalized but based on the family of Benjamin Netanyahu and I thought it was borderline offensive. I mean, would you like a book about Bill Clinton growing up or the Bidens, with all sorts of craziness thrown in? It's just off. I give it a 2 .
The last book I've read, was The Violin Conspiracy. It gets great ratings, and many people I know who've read it loved it.
Not me. It dragged in the beginning and finally turned around with a decent story line but mostly I would say it was the most cliche book I've read and talk about one dimensional characters.
Well glad I really enjoyed Demon Copperhead. I don't think I've had a run of so many books that I just didn't care for overall.
I read The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain. It's for book club,and I didn't think I'd care for it but decided to give it a try.
It was a great read, really drew me in and it was an easy effortless read.
The story was so good, and quite a bit of historical fiction (Polio, WW2, race in the south) which made it quite interesting.
The ending was, in my opinion, really weak but still overall for the book I would give it 4 stars, maybe even 4.5
If the ending hadn't been so off it would have been a 5 star.
I recommend it. A good diversion .
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
