Lee writes an interesting and engaging historical tale, but getting to the sinking of the Titanic took far too long.
I think if I didn't know the ship was going to sink, this would have been a better story. I kept waiting for that moment because I knew it was coming, but even over halfway we hadn't gotten to the date of the ship hitting the iceberg. I knew this was going to be tragic, especially with that author's note in the beginning, so none of those aspects were unexpected. The surprising thing was what happened to each character. As with Lee's other works, one of the focal points was dealing with racism in the early 20th century from the viewpoint of the marginalized community. She writes her characters with authenticity and their backgrounds are so interesting, but it's hard to experience their struggles.
My favorite scene is when Valora gets her haircut and if you read this, you know the one I'm talking about. This is an interesting tale of family, dreams, and survival.
I think if I didn't know the ship was going to sink, this would have been a better story. I kept waiting for that moment because I knew it was coming, but even over halfway we hadn't gotten to the date of the ship hitting the iceberg. I knew this was going to be tragic, especially with that author's note in the beginning, so none of those aspects were unexpected. The surprising thing was what happened to each character. As with Lee's other works, one of the focal points was dealing with racism in the early 20th century from the viewpoint of the marginalized community. She writes her characters with authenticity and their backgrounds are so interesting, but it's hard to experience their struggles.
My favorite scene is when Valora gets her haircut and if you read this, you know the one I'm talking about. This is an interesting tale of family, dreams, and survival.