Helpful Score: 6
Loved this one. Well written so that you know just what the characters are feeling. The chapters flowed smoothly even though the narrator changed back and forth from Handful to Sarah. Both character's stories where equally interesting. I really appreciated the rather long author's note at the end. Ms. Kidd went into great detail about what was fact and what was fiction and I was glad to have read what happened to everyone after the final scene in the book.
Helpful Score: 6
This was an absolutely wonderful book. It's my favorite by the author. The two women's stories are beautifully interwoven. I found some of the slave abuse passages disturbing but they weren't gratuitously graphic. It wasn't until I finished that I found out that some of the characters are actual historical figures. To me that gives the story even more emotion. I highly recommend this for fans of historical fiction or simply of a good story.
Helpful Score: 6
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
Told from two perspectives, Sarah a daughter of a wealthy judge in Charleston who owns a few slaves and depends on them and Handful one of the slaves of the home who becomes Sarah's personal slave. Alternating between these two stories, the author provides a full perspective of the South during the years where slavery was prevalent and their lively hoods depended on the work these slaves did in their homes and plantations.
This book slightly reminded me of one I just read The Wedding Gift and I loved that one, but this one still had an authentic feel. Without putting out any spoilers, I loved that the author didn't include anything Civil War related. I enjoyed reading the beginning rumblings of abolition and the start of the movement, but it didn't go there like so many other books do.
Told from two perspectives, Sarah a daughter of a wealthy judge in Charleston who owns a few slaves and depends on them and Handful one of the slaves of the home who becomes Sarah's personal slave. Alternating between these two stories, the author provides a full perspective of the South during the years where slavery was prevalent and their lively hoods depended on the work these slaves did in their homes and plantations.
This book slightly reminded me of one I just read The Wedding Gift and I loved that one, but this one still had an authentic feel. Without putting out any spoilers, I loved that the author didn't include anything Civil War related. I enjoyed reading the beginning rumblings of abolition and the start of the movement, but it didn't go there like so many other books do.
Helpful Score: 5
Really I give this 4.5 stars. It's beautifully written and the author is on top of her game of weaving story lines and characters together. The only thing that detracted the half star for me was the ending felt a little rushed.
Helpful Score: 4
THE INVENTION OF WINGS was the November 2014 pick in my online book club, The Reading Cove.
Since the story is based on the life of early American abolitionist Sarah Moore Grimké, I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but I didn't, and here's why...
The two main characters whose perspective the story's told from, never stepped into a third dimension for me. I also felt they both suffered behind the veil of a dull, flat and monotone narrative.
The synopsis led me to expect an epic friendship between slave and slave owner in the Antebellum Southbut what a disappointment! I think the friendship between Sarah and Handful was severely underdeveloped and needed a double shot of collagen to plump it to life! What a missed opportunity this was for the author to create something special during this time in US history.
So overall, the book got off to a slow start for me, picked up a smidget about 100 pages in, then became a flat out chore to slog through because I had little to no interest in anything that was going on. I finished only because it was a Cove pick.
While I applaud Sue Monk Kidd for introducing the modern world to heroic women like Sarah Grimkéwho've unfortunately been long since forgotten through the passage of timeher writing style just isn't my cuppa. For me it's very dull and uncompelling.
Since the story is based on the life of early American abolitionist Sarah Moore Grimké, I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but I didn't, and here's why...
The two main characters whose perspective the story's told from, never stepped into a third dimension for me. I also felt they both suffered behind the veil of a dull, flat and monotone narrative.
The synopsis led me to expect an epic friendship between slave and slave owner in the Antebellum Southbut what a disappointment! I think the friendship between Sarah and Handful was severely underdeveloped and needed a double shot of collagen to plump it to life! What a missed opportunity this was for the author to create something special during this time in US history.
So overall, the book got off to a slow start for me, picked up a smidget about 100 pages in, then became a flat out chore to slog through because I had little to no interest in anything that was going on. I finished only because it was a Cove pick.
While I applaud Sue Monk Kidd for introducing the modern world to heroic women like Sarah Grimkéwho've unfortunately been long since forgotten through the passage of timeher writing style just isn't my cuppa. For me it's very dull and uncompelling.
