I received REMEMBRANCE by Rita Woods in my first Once Upon a Book Club book box, so I was excited to squeeze it into my March reading. I didn’t know a lot about this one apart from seeing a few positive reviews and knowing it was historical fiction, so decided to go in pretty blind. Though I didn’t read it until March, it did arrive in February in time for Black History Month.
REMEMBRANCE is named for a place, a rumored place along the underground railroad where people fleeing can find a safe place. The story is broken up into multiple timelines. In the present there is a mysterious elderly woman in a care home and a care staff who seems to be the only one who connects to her. In 1971 Haiti, we’re following a slave girl Abigail who comes to New Orleans. In 1857 New Orleans, we’re following Margot who is sold off just before her 18th birthday who struggles to escape.
There was a lot that I loved about this book. I thought that the writing was great and it quickly had me engaged to the story. I didn’t go into this one expecting this to be so heavily based in magical realism, though I did feel like those elements were well woven into the story. I did like our central characters and felt for everything they were facing.
In spite of all that I loved in the story, I did struggle a bit as the book went on with the time jumps and really following what was happening to Remembrance. Some of this could well be the just general distraction with reading I think many of us are facing right now, so it may be an issue with my attention. I have looked up some other review and have seen that others have felt similar to me toward the second half of the book, however.
In any case, I did generally enjoy reading REMEMBRANCE and found it to bring a very unique and creative perspective.
REMEMBRANCE is named for a place, a rumored place along the underground railroad where people fleeing can find a safe place. The story is broken up into multiple timelines. In the present there is a mysterious elderly woman in a care home and a care staff who seems to be the only one who connects to her. In 1971 Haiti, we’re following a slave girl Abigail who comes to New Orleans. In 1857 New Orleans, we’re following Margot who is sold off just before her 18th birthday who struggles to escape.
There was a lot that I loved about this book. I thought that the writing was great and it quickly had me engaged to the story. I didn’t go into this one expecting this to be so heavily based in magical realism, though I did feel like those elements were well woven into the story. I did like our central characters and felt for everything they were facing.
In spite of all that I loved in the story, I did struggle a bit as the book went on with the time jumps and really following what was happening to Remembrance. Some of this could well be the just general distraction with reading I think many of us are facing right now, so it may be an issue with my attention. I have looked up some other review and have seen that others have felt similar to me toward the second half of the book, however.
In any case, I did generally enjoy reading REMEMBRANCE and found it to bring a very unique and creative perspective.