I love to read spooky middle grade books, and this is definitely that. But it's also more than that. It's a coming of age story and a book about the iI love to read spooky middle grade books, and this is definitely that. But it's also more than that. It's a coming of age story and a book about the importance of family, embracing and being strengthened by one's heritage and culture, and making good decisions that are often tough. Young Jezebel is the daughter of a family that has strong Gullah traditions, including root magic. It was never something to feel weird about until she started school and she was bullied by the other girls in her grade. Her twin brother Jay seems to fit in very well and has friends, but she has none, except Suzie, a new girl. Jezebel is mourning her grandmother whom she was very close to, and is learning root magic from her uncle Doc. Her mother is a hard working single parent as their father disappeared years ago. Her mom instills strong values in her children that have clearly taken root in Jezebel. However, she is in a period of struggle and change, and a dark force seems fixated on her. Along with a racist deputy bent on causing trouble for the black families in their area, particularly the root magic practitioners.
There is a lot of complexity to this novel. The writing is very good. I think that readers going into it, should understand that while there are some thrilling and very supernatural moments, this story is more focused on Jezebel's character arc. With that in mind, I can't imagine a reader not being sucked into this earnest and beautiful narrative. The narrator captures the young lead character very well, and adds a sense of pathos to her struggles. I was bullied when I was a kid, and it's really hard to see kids getting treated like that by others. This book also deals with racism as the family is literally being harassed and abused by a law enforcement person, and they seem to have no protection from him. Sensitive readers will definitely find themselves being impacted some some aspects of this storyline. There is a sympathetic member of the sheriff's department, but his ability to help them is practically nil. Sadly, not much has changed in that scenario.
Royce is excellent at building tension. The suspense-filled scenes totally drew me in. The uncanny aspects are both fascinating and at times deeply creepy. I absolutely loved some of those aspects of the story, which I cannot talk about because it would spoil the story.
Root Magic is a great book to read in October, or really any time of the year. I loved the descriptions of the food and culture of Jezebel's family. The setting is so well-described, I could feel the heat of the swamps and hear the sounds of the animals that lived there. This book made me so hungry. I love rice, so I definitely got into that aspect of the story. But the characterization is the star of the book. Every one of the main characters and the pivotal secondary characters are well developed and distinct. As much as I would have liked the bullying issue resolved more definitively, I realize that things happened the way they should have. I highly recommend this book....more
Being Plumville is a love story about two people who knew they were each other's happy endings from a very young age. But society and the stupid notioBeing Plumville is a love story about two people who knew they were each other's happy endings from a very young age. But society and the stupid notions of color, race, and what should and shouldn't be done managed to stand in their way for fifteen and more years.
Savannah J. Frierson takes the reader back to the late 1960s in the South where there is hope of things changing, but a lot of blood, sweat and tears will be expended to make things better. This is a world in which skin color dictates many things: how much you get paid, where you live, what kind of job you are able to take, even how well you get treated by others. It doesn't matter what you want for yourself or for your children. It is just the way it is.
The opening scene tells me a lot about Benny and Ceelee. Benny is protective, caring and possessive of little Ceelee. Ceelee loves and trusts Benny. Benny declares that he's going to marry Ceelee. However, it is not acceptable that Benny should feel that way about Ceelee, because Ceelee is black, and Benny has expectations that he must meet for his family and for Plumville. White future state judges (sons of prominent Plumville citizenry) don't marry black daughters of their family's housekeepers. So, Patty was forced to keep her young daughter away from Benny.
Fifteen years later, both Benjamin Drummond and Coralee Simmons have yielded to the dictates of their world. They live in the same small town, but inhabit separate spheres, black separated by white. Until Ceelee is asked to tutor Benjamin in English, or he will not longer be eligible to play as quarterback for their college football team. Benjamin has fallen into the mold of white prominent young citizen. He even jokes along with his racist friends about blacks, even if his heart doesn't feel that way. Deep down, he yearns for his friend Ceelee, and is secretly glad that he can reestablish that crucial connection that was missing in his life for so many years. But now, Coralee keeps him at a distance. She doesn't trust him anymore. To her, he is another white person who thinks he's better than her, thinks he can insult her, and treat her like a second class citizen. Benjamin is determined to show Coralee that he is different from the others. That he is worthy of her trust and friendship, because the truth was, he never stopped loving her. Coralee has to find the courage to fight for the love that she feels (has felt for many years) beneath the hurt and fear.
This book was a wonderful read. It was also very difficult to read. It brought the anger and rage to the surface. Knowing that in the United States blacks were (and still are in some instances) treated this way because of some bizarre belief that skin color determines intelligence, eligibility, and superiority. I was born a short five years after this book takes place. My mother and father (both black) lived in this world of Ceelee and Benjamin, dealing with the same issues. It is a painful thought to accept that one's life is not your own. That you don't get the same choices as someone else because that's the way it is. That it's okay for them to call you ugly names, and you have to bite your tongue and deal with it. That you can't love who you want to love without being rejected by your own people, and subject to physical harm by his people.
Ms. Frierson didn't make up any of that angst. This book is real. I rooted for Ceelee and Benjamin, even as I knew the road they traveled was a long, hard, ugly one. I could feel their frustration when they weren't even able to hold hands or express affection towards each other in public. It was okay for Benjamin 'try the dark berry', but he couldn't love a black woman. For Coralee, she was condemned and ridiculed for even thinking it was okay to date a white man. It was a lot to take, making this far from a fun, escapist read. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy or love this book. It was just a sobering experience for me, and sometimes I had to put this book down and regroup. I am glad I read this book, because I really appreciate Ms. Frierson's writing. Although painful at times, this gave me something to think about. It helps me to be grateful that I have the choices that Coralee didn't have back then, and not because I am smarter or more deserving than Coralee was. Although I have and will face prejudice for my skin color, my fate and my life is my own. I can love who I want, and if people don't like it, I have the safety and the ability to face that and not find my essential being damaged from it. I for one am grateful that people like Coralee and Benjamin and the real life Mr. and Mrs. Loving paved the way for interracial couples in the modern United States. People can say what they want, but their opinion doesn't legally amount to a hill of beans.
This was a moving, excellent book. It hurt my heart, but it also gave me hope that you can believe in love, even if it won't guarantee a perfect road ahead. But two is stronger than one. And love is worth fighting for.
Danielle The Book Huntress
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Books:
1960s
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