Syndrie
With a powerful mix of horror and social commentary, “Our Sister’s Keeper” is a book that highlights the — very unfair — expectation for Black women to carry other people’s burdens with a smile on their face and without a single word of complaint.
The story takes place in the town of East Cobb, which is an all-Black community where its citizens are able to live free from the fear of white hatred and oppression. It seems like a utopia from the first few glances, but readers will be able to quickly realize that the peaceful living that the men and women of East Cobb get to experience is only possible in exchange for the ongoing suffering of a select few women. As I got further into the story, my main question was really just “are all of these people really free after all, or is this entire town just a different flavor of slavery?”
Holmes’ prose flows smoothly and the entire book really had me captivated from the very first page — she did a fantastic job of crafting a story that’s emotional, haunting, and thought-provoking. There’s also a perfect balance of characters you want to root for as well as characters you’re going to hate, and I’d say they’re all developed pretty well. Even though I definitely didn’t agree with a lot of the choices made by certain characters in this story, I do think their motivations were laid out clearly and their behaviors made sense in context of their beliefs.
This is probably going to be one of those novels that I’ll keep thinking back on for quite some time. It’s a story that is here to tell a message and does a great job at delivering that message. I’ll definitely be putting this one into my list of favorite Southern gothics and I’ll absolutely be keeping an eye out for whatever Jasmine Holmes comes out with next!
(I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher, Bindery Books, via NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.)
With a powerful mix of horror and social commentary, “Our Sister’s Keeper” is a book that highlights the — very unfair — expectation for Black women to carry other people’s burdens with a smile on their face and without a single word of complaint.
The story takes place in the town of East Cobb, which is an all-Black community where its citizens are able to live free from the fear of white hatred and oppression. It seems like a utopia from the first few glances, but readers will be able to quickly realize that the peaceful living that the men and women of East Cobb get to experience is only possible in exchange for the ongoing suffering of a select few women. As I got further into the story, my main question was really just “are all of these people really free after all, or is this entire town just a different flavor of slavery?”
Holmes’ prose flows smoothly and the entire book really had me captivated from the very first page — she did a fantastic job of crafting a story that’s emotional, haunting, and thought-provoking. There’s also a perfect balance of characters you want to root for as well as characters you’re going to hate, and I’d say they’re all developed pretty well. Even though I definitely didn’t agree with a lot of the choices made by certain characters in this story, I do think their motivations were laid out clearly and their behaviors made sense in context of their beliefs.
This is probably going to be one of those novels that I’ll keep thinking back on for quite some time. It’s a story that is here to tell a message and does a great job at delivering that message. I’ll definitely be putting this one into my list of favorite Southern gothics and I’ll absolutely be keeping an eye out for whatever Jasmine Holmes comes out with next!
(I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher, Bindery Books, via NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.)