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Bob Schmitz's Reviews > Wench
Wench
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by
I saw an article that Dolen Perkins-Valdez was speaking about her book here in Durham. I had never heard of her or her book but a book about a resort in Ohio where Southern men brought their slaves as escorts was an interesting topic so my wife and I joined 25 black people and 10 other whites in a local church to hear what she had to say.
Perkins-Valdez had been told by a writing teacher to look for materials in books in obituaries. She didn't like reading obits. She did however run across a footnote some where that mentioned Tawawa House, a resort in Southern Ohio, a free state, where Southern masters brought their slaves without their wives. More than cooking and mending went on. Fascinated she researched and found that it had existed and had failed prior to the Civil War because Northerners didn't like being around the Southern slave owners. It became a school and eventually Wilberforce College. None of the original building remain and the springs for which people came have dried up.
Perkins-Valdez was an engaging speaker. She mentioned that slavery had many secrets and that her (black) college roommate had only recently told her that she was descended from former president Andrew Johnson That fact had been hidden in the family handed down through the females but never made public because of the shame that incest was involved. With her research skills Dolen was able find that the Johnson ancestry was true and the incest was not. So many stories hidden away.
So now onto the book. It was interesting in that it portrayed some of the ambiguities of slavery. Other reasons besides fear could keep a slave woman from leaving her master. Perhaps affection? Perkins-Valdez is ambiguous on this point with her main character, Lizzie. That being said I did not find the book that engaging. One of the main things that bothered me is that many of the things she discribed did not ring true. For instance Lizzie several times confides in white people and suffers each time. I would think that even by the age of 13 she would know to hide her feelings. She refers to "driveways" A word that dates to 1865-70 10 years after the story. ( "chicken wire" that was invented after 1947 ()*** This just seemed sloppy writing and I felt the characters were developed in a sloppy way also.
I thought the topic was interesting but the book was not.
****Please read the comments of "Sue" below from 1/29/12 who points out some inconsistencies in my review and my response to her comments.
Perkins-Valdez had been told by a writing teacher to look for materials in books in obituaries. She didn't like reading obits. She did however run across a footnote some where that mentioned Tawawa House, a resort in Southern Ohio, a free state, where Southern masters brought their slaves without their wives. More than cooking and mending went on. Fascinated she researched and found that it had existed and had failed prior to the Civil War because Northerners didn't like being around the Southern slave owners. It became a school and eventually Wilberforce College. None of the original building remain and the springs for which people came have dried up.
Perkins-Valdez was an engaging speaker. She mentioned that slavery had many secrets and that her (black) college roommate had only recently told her that she was descended from former president Andrew Johnson That fact had been hidden in the family handed down through the females but never made public because of the shame that incest was involved. With her research skills Dolen was able find that the Johnson ancestry was true and the incest was not. So many stories hidden away.
So now onto the book. It was interesting in that it portrayed some of the ambiguities of slavery. Other reasons besides fear could keep a slave woman from leaving her master. Perhaps affection? Perkins-Valdez is ambiguous on this point with her main character, Lizzie. That being said I did not find the book that engaging. One of the main things that bothered me is that many of the things she discribed did not ring true. For instance Lizzie several times confides in white people and suffers each time. I would think that even by the age of 13 she would know to hide her feelings. She refers to "driveways" A word that dates to 1865-70 10 years after the story. ( "chicken wire" that was invented after 1947 ()*** This just seemed sloppy writing and I felt the characters were developed in a sloppy way also.
I thought the topic was interesting but the book was not.
****Please read the comments of "Sue" below from 1/29/12 who points out some inconsistencies in my review and my response to her comments.
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Wench.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
February 15, 2011
–
Finished Reading
February 22, 2011
– Shelved
March 15, 2019
– Shelved as:
historical-fiction
Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)
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Hi Sue, I just read your comment on my review. I read my own link to Wikipedia and see that it says it was invented in 1844. I wonder if that is an edit put on after my comment as I certainly didn't make up the date of 1947. I did look up chickenwire in the dictionary and it said that it is a 20th century Americanism. Perhaps the thing itself was invented in England but not called chicken wire until the 20th century. I will edit my comment.I appreciate your comments as I certainly had no desire to misinform. My feeling about the book remains. At one point a character mentions that she will make some biscuits "from stratch." This too struck me as odd as I can't imagine that biscuits were made any other way at that time and place and that if there was not an alternative and no one would say "from scratch" just as now no one would say "I am going to travel in my car by driving. Before putting up my review I wrote to the author and expressed some of my thoughts but did not hear back. As far as me being "unfair" to a new author, I think that my writing how I experience the book (as not ringing true) was completely fair. Goodness sakes an author should want to hear how people experience their work. It is not as though I am the NYT book reviewer!
Thank you Bob for your reply. My first thought about the Wikipedia link you posted was also that it had been edited, but I checked that and the page was last modified in December 2011, so that is not the case.I appreciate that this was your feeling on the book, but unfortunately of two out of three examples you chose to illustrate it, one was wrong, and the other was a little pedantic in my opinion. The word driveway may well have been used at that time and possibly the author's research showed that it was. Those comments were what I thought unfair, not your general review.
And I agree of course an author would want to hear opinions of their readers but on more valid points I would imagine.
I'm echoing Sue's sentiment. She typed the words write away from my fingers.
As an Ohioan, I am certain of her geographical inaccuracies, many of which could have been corrected PURELY by looking at a map. This makes me suspect that historical details were generally poorly-researched. Either way, I found the book to be good for a first effort, but overall mediocre.
I loved the book. I didn't dissect it as much as some may have. I would highly recommend reading it.
It's unreasonable that your dislike of the book is mainly due to some words that you personally thought were out of place for the time period. I critiqued this book (and rated it low) based on plot, characterization and general writing but a few words that seemed (and I do say seemed since it appears you're not necessarily correct) above the time is enough to mar the majority of your opinion on the book.. Hmm... Sounds hysterical.
Colette wrote: "It's unreasonable that your dislike of the book is mainly due to some words that you personally thought were out of place for the time period. I critiqued this book (and rated it low) based on plot..."Hi Collette, I get to dislike a book for whatever reason I choose. I wasn't trying to be fair I was just expressing my opinion. I do appreciate your comments. I am not as literary or eloquent as others. Bob
the word 'Driveway' which you said wasn't in use until 10 years after the date of this story. But I'm sure you must be aware that words don't suddenly appear in a dictionary,
and it is quite possible that this word had been used for at least 10 years before it had become a recognized word, even if it had been to describe a patch of dirt by the side of
the house. I would have liked to have seen proof of its non-existence before you use it to criticize the author of this book. You also use a Wikipedia link to illustrate your point
about another word which you say didn't exist because it wasn't invented until 1947! However the link that you yourself provide says chicken wire was invented in 1844 by
Geoffrey Chaucer, an ironmonger who was the son of a farmer!!
You used both these invalid points to accuse the writer of sloppy writing, whereas in actual fact I think it is quite obvious where the sloppiness comes in here. I don't mean to be
insulting here and I hope you forgive me pointing this out but I just think it was unfair on a new writer and felt compelled to try and put it straight. I haven't read the book yet,I came here to check reviews first and found quite a mixed bag, so I can't comment further on the actual book.