3.5 rounded up

This debut novel about family, love, sacrifice, race and reconciliation gave me so much to think about. Particularly how intentionality plays a role in the decisions we make and the lies we tell.

The author did some very clever and intentional things with her characters that really intrigued me. I didn't necessarily identify with them or even agree with them, but I still found myself actively trying to understand them.

My appreciation of this book was heightened by attending an author event and having a bookish conversation with a fellow reader. Some books beg for a deeper dive and this was one of those books for me.

This had a lot of difficult & relevant topics and it was done well. Jackie I think you'll want to read this one!

Not my favorite but readable and some interesting insights into the Black experience in America.

This book was well written but I wasn't drawn to the story.

Glimpsing into other people's life experiences is always a wonderful learning experience. That's what I'll take away from this book the most. That, and this quote,

"It struck Ruth that every mother's choice had repercussions for generations, and it fanned out into a web that could ensnare you or catch you when you slipped. It all depended on how you looked at it."

It is seriously killing me to see some people shelving this as historical fiction. Please help I cannot be that old. I chose this book for my February Book of the Month because its premise intrigued me. I'll admit I wanted a bit more of the mystery element of her son and what happened to him than we ended up getting. In fact, the reader learns pretty early on who Ruth's son is while Ruth is left still asking questions for many pages. I'm not really a big fan of reveals before the character learns them, I find them frustrating to read.

This was a slow read. I think because the reader learns about Ruth's son so early on there's not as big of a rush to see what's going to happen next. The only real mystery is when Ruth will eventually stumble across the truth of her son and even when that happens the story drags out their eventual meeting. I did really enjoy Ruth and Midnight as the two narrators of this story. It was interesting to compare their childhoods as they both share a love of science and lived in Ganton with all the disadvantages the town has to offer. I found the small friendship Ruth and Midnight were working up to so sweet. I loved that part of the story where we have a woman deciding if she's ready to be a mother and a child who needs to be nurtured colliding with each other.

Johnson did an excellent job describing Ganton. I could easily see the small town falling to ruin, now that its factory finally closed down. Even the random background characters fit the town so well from the guy working the gas station to the stray dog wandering the streets. The setting for this story was set impeccably well. There were a lot of excellent race discussions in the book. Some that were expected like what it means to be black in America. Even with the recent election of Obama the country as we well know wasn't magically cleansed of racists. There was also some good discussion surrounding Midnight and his imitation of Black kids. Ultimately I wasn't happy with the book's ending, though I'm not quite sure how else it could have ended. There was a lot of neatness, a lot of the character's issues just suddenly gone and wrapped up. I think the book missed the mark in regards to Ruth's son in particular and where he was left at the end of the story.

Set after the election of Barack Obama, this debut novel is an interesting meditation on motherhood, race, and class. Ruth had a baby at seventeen, who was adopted, and this secret surfaces as she and her husband start planning to have a children. Midnight is a kid struggling with the loss of his mother. The two characters' lives intertwine in this tale examining the sacrifices we make for our family and learning when to let go.