This was a bit Troublesome to me
My thoughts of this story and its execution leaves me as an outlier. I waivered at various points between giving this a 2 or 3 rating. Though an interesting exploration of a people deficient in an enzyme leaving them a bluish color, this story seemed very redundant to the point, that I had to push myself to finish.
The story: I love historical fiction, in fact there was a period of years that I either read non-fiction primarily history and biographies or and I only read historical fiction. I had stopped reading fiction for close to five years, other than historical fiction. I had heard about the blue people but didn't pursue this topic so this was in my wheel house for reading! I liked the story premise and the obstacles Cussy Mary, the protagonist faced by being labeled colored and undesirable by those in the white community, even among some of the coal miners, who have always been considered at the bottom rung among the poor. Cussy's father, Elijah, a coal miner in this small Kentucky community is sometimes taken advantage as well for being blue skinned as well and suffers as a result. It is such a sad comment on our society (and world history) that anyone not viewed as perfect within a group is ostracized and diminished no matter if it is a handicap or merely "for being not the same".
The Mechanics were an issue for me and perhaps isn't for many. Timelines were often flawed, one example, Cussy Mary receives a letter and it is six weeks after posting, except we were told in another passage that it had only been a week that had passed. This happened throughout the story, which made the story implausible at times. Others probably didn't even notice, or maybe don't care but it impacted the integrity of Cussy Mary's tale for me.
Another thing I didn't understand, although Cussy Mary has a co-worker that she is friends with, the woman happens to be black and it seems as though Cussy Mary doesn't value that friendship in part because the woman is black. At several opportunities to confide in this woman, she does not though this character seems very loving and supportive of Cussy! I realize Cussy is shy and in large part because of her abuse due to her coloring, it makes no sense not to go to someone, who understands that position especially, when the mean white women target them together by calling them colored. Yes, people are irrational but the author never delves into Cussy's own observable prejudice. Why should the reader feel compassion when Cussy doesn't have it?
Another point, I feel most reviews have overlooked, much of the novel "tells us" what Cussy Mary and others are feeling instead of demonstrating it through interaction. Don't get me wrong, we do get plenty of these moments but the author fails to trust the reader to notice these actions and draw the desired conclusions, so instead she keeps telling us things over and over. It got to the point that I wished I had counted how many times the author made us ponder that 'being blue meant being persecuted'. Frankly, I got to the point of being insulted. I wanted to shout at the author, "For heavens sake, we get it, this is a book about one woman's persecution at the hands of her neighbor!" I promise Nathaniel Hawthorne never pushed the Scarlet Letter on Hester's chest like this author did Cussy's blue skin persecution! Perhaps, she should read more books from this perspective, if she wants to write a first person account or stream of consciousness in her future books.
After reading a review by Diane Barnes, I felt a little vindicated in my frustration. I am not telling you not to read this, not at all. Obviously many reviewers think highly of it. Interestingly, quite a few people commented that they agreed with Ms. Barnes review as well as mine, but unfortunately these individuals didn't write a review, thus their issues remain unaccounted for at this point.
That said, I liked the premise, I had big issues with the execution of this story.
The story: I love historical fiction, in fact there was a period of years that I either read non-fiction primarily history and biographies or and I only read historical fiction. I had stopped reading fiction for close to five years, other than historical fiction. I had heard about the blue people but didn't pursue this topic so this was in my wheel house for reading! I liked the story premise and the obstacles Cussy Mary, the protagonist faced by being labeled colored and undesirable by those in the white community, even among some of the coal miners, who have always been considered at the bottom rung among the poor. Cussy's father, Elijah, a coal miner in this small Kentucky community is sometimes taken advantage as well for being blue skinned as well and suffers as a result. It is such a sad comment on our society (and world history) that anyone not viewed as perfect within a group is ostracized and diminished no matter if it is a handicap or merely "for being not the same".
The Mechanics were an issue for me and perhaps isn't for many. Timelines were often flawed, one example, Cussy Mary receives a letter and it is six weeks after posting, except we were told in another passage that it had only been a week that had passed. This happened throughout the story, which made the story implausible at times. Others probably didn't even notice, or maybe don't care but it impacted the integrity of Cussy Mary's tale for me.
Another thing I didn't understand, although Cussy Mary has a co-worker that she is friends with, the woman happens to be black and it seems as though Cussy Mary doesn't value that friendship in part because the woman is black. At several opportunities to confide in this woman, she does not though this character seems very loving and supportive of Cussy! I realize Cussy is shy and in large part because of her abuse due to her coloring, it makes no sense not to go to someone, who understands that position especially, when the mean white women target them together by calling them colored. Yes, people are irrational but the author never delves into Cussy's own observable prejudice. Why should the reader feel compassion when Cussy doesn't have it?
Another point, I feel most reviews have overlooked, much of the novel "tells us" what Cussy Mary and others are feeling instead of demonstrating it through interaction. Don't get me wrong, we do get plenty of these moments but the author fails to trust the reader to notice these actions and draw the desired conclusions, so instead she keeps telling us things over and over. It got to the point that I wished I had counted how many times the author made us ponder that 'being blue meant being persecuted'. Frankly, I got to the point of being insulted. I wanted to shout at the author, "For heavens sake, we get it, this is a book about one woman's persecution at the hands of her neighbor!" I promise Nathaniel Hawthorne never pushed the Scarlet Letter on Hester's chest like this author did Cussy's blue skin persecution! Perhaps, she should read more books from this perspective, if she wants to write a first person account or stream of consciousness in her future books.
After reading a review by Diane Barnes, I felt a little vindicated in my frustration. I am not telling you not to read this, not at all. Obviously many reviewers think highly of it. Interestingly, quite a few people commented that they agreed with Ms. Barnes review as well as mine, but unfortunately these individuals didn't write a review, thus their issues remain unaccounted for at this point.
That said, I liked the premise, I had big issues with the execution of this story.