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Cina's Reviews > Wench
Wench
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I gave this book 2 stars because I am still waiting for a conclusion to this book. I kept reading hoping that the more I read the better it would get but that didn't happen. Some of the stories of the characters fell to the side or didn't develop fully, there was very little development and disheartening that the main character Lizzie/Eliza never really realized her worth as a woman in the story. To the bitter end, even knowing what being a slave vs a free black woman meant and who were her oppressors she still pined for the love of her master. That is how it came across to me, yes it was Stockholm syndrome to a degree. After being captive so long she started to feel a sense of sordid love for him, he chose her above everyone, he treated her right but did he really? There were moments of clarity when she could see that she was nothing more than a slave to him but they were blurred by false words of love. Ridiculous...every slave arrived to the point that they learned that they were nothing more than cattle and freedom was the ultimate goal not a life of servitude. Lizzie's inability to find freedom frustrated me, I wanted the character to develop so much but true to the title all she remained was a wench.
I would recommend this if only you want a quick read, briefly touches on the cruelties of slavery with the acts of a few bad masters, there is no real love in this novel, just a great sense of loss that could have been developed into a lot more.
I would recommend this if only you want a quick read, briefly touches on the cruelties of slavery with the acts of a few bad masters, there is no real love in this novel, just a great sense of loss that could have been developed into a lot more.
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Wench.
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Reading Progress
February 7, 2011
– Shelved
April 11, 2011
–
Started Reading
April 11, 2011
–
Finished Reading
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Diane
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rated it 2 stars
Oct 04, 2011 03:07PM
I completely agree with your very well written assessment of this book.
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Thanks Diane...what did you feel about the book after reading it?
This was my review.I'm about 1/3 into the book, and feel like it's a book I feel an obligation to finish (for my book club) rather than a book I want to finish. So far for me, this is just not particularly compelling. Hopefully that changes.
Alright I've finished it and it really was just another read for me. Nothing about it really grabbed me. I thought the characters were weak and poorly developed and the overall story line fairly overdone and cliched.
I think what makes a book a page turner is usually a combination of factors whether it's a unique perspective, great dialogue or compelling characters and for me, this book had none of those and in no way differentiated itself from any other book on slavery. And the conclusion for me was way too harlequin romance like in that it was completely unbelievable. (less)
Preach! lol...never a truer review. It could have been so much better. I has actually made me leery about venturing and reading other books by this author.
PERFECT summary and review! I 100% cosign
The ending was true to real life. Most slaves didn't escape. Most slave women were brutally raped. Many struggled with the same things Lizzie struggled with. Valdez also portrayed other women with other personalities and other ways of coping. Lizzie, though, met the fate of the majority, but planned to help her children do better, just like many of our ancestors did. Real life isn't pretty.
@Andrea - I do agree real life for our ancestors was not pretty. On all fronts, maintaining a family unit, maintaining relationships, finding freedom, knowing identity...however, I felt like the characters in the book were complacent and content with their status of "wench". I know slave women did what they had to do for the sake of their children but more than less always to the very core plotted away for freedom, freedom for self and freedom for their children. All were very aware that their masters promises were words in the wind, flowing in the direction the master says. The kind, generous master, the loving caring master, still at the core is a slave owner. Someone who could care so little for the woman that carried his children he could not set her or them free. For me, when she hit that reality is when she should have started plotting a way to freedom but instead she just let this warp sense of love override any true desire to be free.
