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Nov 14, 2011

Gloria rated it:

An amazing first novel!

Author Kathleen Grissom's debut novel about slavery in the South in the late 1700's, early 1800's is one of the best out this year. This thought-provoking look at life on a tobacco plantation in that era both shocks us and draws us into the souls of these compelling characters, the white owners, the black slaves, and the little white girl who is brought in as an indentured servant, with whom we "experience" her growth into womanhood. Totally believabl More...

0 comments like (16 people liked it)

Apr 29, 2011

Chrissie rated it:

NO SPOILERS!!!

On completion: Four stars! I know I really liked the book, but why, and what is it that prevents me from giving it five stars? You keep turning the pages, I kept wondering what is going to happen next? Yes, a lot does happen, and sometimes it does feel a bit melodramatic given all the shit that hits the fan. What happens does not feel impossible, but sometimes I found myself thinking that the blacks absolutely never were as bad as the whites. Let me say once again, the More...

28 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

Kathleen Grissom had the raw materials for a rich and powerful historical novel. Her writing is good, if a little drawn out at times. She has an interesting angle with the orphaned Irish immigrant girl put to work among the slaves. So why did it fall short? I think Grissom slipped too easily into stereotypes and melodrama and never got out of that rut. When you have too many tragic or shocking things happen to too many characters, it becomes predictable and numbs the reader. I started losing tra More...

7 comments like (12 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2011

Tara rated it:

The first 3/4th of the book was awesome. I loved the early story of Lavinia at the plantation and in Williamsburg. Later in the book the story has more downs than ups and can be somewhat depressing.
Of course, I think the author does a great job with portraying the time period, although since Historical Fiction is not one of my favorite genres, I had a hard time with some of the character's choices (although I would think looking at the time period were realistic responses).
Overa More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2011

Marleen rated it:

What an amazing book! It deserves more than 5 stars. Truly, I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up until the early hours of the morning because I had to finish this story. It’s been ages since I have been that engrossed in a book, or that affected by a story for that matter. There aren’t words to describe the emotions you feel while reading this.
I have to give credit to the author’s wonderful talent for being able to render such an unvarnished, yet grippingly beautiful tale of life on a sou More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

May 23, 2011

Barb rated it:

My hat is off to Kathleen Grissom for creating such a wonderful and moving story. I recently read 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett which I also highly recommend. I think the two novels compliment each other very nicely.

Lavinia, born in Ireland, is an indentured servant who comes to live at Tall Oaks tobacco plantation in southern Virginia in 1791. She is placed in the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter. Lavinia lives and works in the kitchen house along side the slaves More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2010

Daphne rated it:

I received this book on the Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you Goodreads and Touchstone Fireside publishers. What a gift this book was. Not only did I LOVE the story, but I defy anyone to not care about these characters. From the beginning when you first meet seven year old Lavinia, an orphan first arriving in America from Ireland, all you want to do is hug her and find out where this story takes her. It is a story of the true meaning of family, sacrifice and loyalty. You will want to be a part More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2011

Carol rated it:

Having no talent whatsoever in writing, for some reason, I am frequently attracted to first-time authors. I am always amazed at how they come up with ideas and the ability to express them. In my opinion, The Kitchen House is one of the best debut novels I have read in recent years. This was a page-turner for me from the beginning. It doesn’t quite reach a 5, but it gets a strong 4.

The setting and theme of the South in this period, and the lives of slaves and an indentured servant we More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Gina rated it:

This is my favorite read finally of this year! It will be a while, I'm sure, before I find another novel to pull at my heart like this story has done.

Lavinia, a young seven year old is orphaned while onboard a ship from Ireland to America. Since there is no one left to care for her, the ship's captain James Pyke, takes her home to work as an indentured servant. 1791 Tidewater, Virginia is not an easy time in America's history, so when you bring a white girl in to work in the kitchen ho More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

♥ Marlene♥ rated it:

I had sorted this book as literature on my shelf well it is definitely not literature but more cheap sensational stuff based on stereotypes.
While reading this book this is what I wrote:
"I am not liking this book. It feels like the books i read when I was a teen. It is too much. Too much sorrow and everything goes wrong. Now she is going to make life changing decisions because of lack of communication. If there is something I dislike it is that in books.

I meant More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2010

Kathryn rated it:

It is hard to believe that this is a first novel and after reading it, I am sure it will not be the last. I read 99 pages the very first time I sat down to read this book. It moves at a very fast pace!

The story of Lavinia and Belle is so very moving. Lavinia's adopted familly are some of the most memorable characters I have encountered in a novel lately, I came to care about each of them very much. The family she marries into much less so. This is a story about family, but much More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2011

Naomi rated it:

This book is absolutely a heart breaking, gut-wrenching read...I can't say anymore about it..because I don't think anything would quite be able to capture the emotion of the book.

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2012

Mary rated it:

I truly liked this book a lot. I thought the writing was very good. I believe this is a first novel for this writer, Kathleen Grissom. She did a good job with her research. I would almost rate this a 5 stars. There are many books written about the slaves in the South, and many of them are good, some are not, and this one is very good. However, it is hard to exceed "Roots" when you are talking or writing or reading about this subject. Therein lies the problem with rating this a 5 star. More...

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2012

Anik rated it:

The book was horrible. I wasn't even able to finish it. The only reason I purchased it was because of the reviews that people wrote on Amazon. Everyone that gives this book a 5 star rating and calls it the best book they have ever read have never read a really good book.

I couldn't find the point of the story. The author would jump from one incident to the next. She provides details that make no sense or are totally irrelevant to the story. There is no flow to the story. More...

1 comment like

Jan 16, 2012

Judy rated it:

In 1791, the owner of Tall Oaks, a tobacco plantation in southern Virginia, brings home a 7 year old white, Irish orphan named Lavinia and put her to work in the kitchen house under the care of Belle, his half-white illegitimate daughter. Lavinia has no memory of her family or her past life and she quickly becomes part of a large, loving slave family headed by Mama Mae and Papa George. As Lavinia grews up over the next decade, her position between the world of the Big house and the world of her More...

0 comments like

Jan 14, 2012

Pamela rated it:

If books can be compared to movies, this is a Lifetime movie. Tragedy after tragedy occurs; we have unaknowledged illegitimate biracial children, sexual abuse of children,rape, sexual assault, drug use. And the author also puts in the particular tragedies of pre-Civil War Virginia, including abuse and murder of slaves, mistreatment of slaves, the breaking of families by slave owners, starvation and overworking of the slaves. Plus mental illness. Oh, there's incest, too. And did I mention spousal More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Jill rated it:

Something about this book felt familiar to the point that I checked the publication date to be sure I'd not read it before. Yet I'm giving it five stars mostly because I cared about the characters. There were quite a few charcters to keep track of, but they were distinctive enough that I never felt confused about their identities. Another review mentioned the end didn't bring on the expected tears, and that was true...but the prologue took a little of the power from the ending, and I think af More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2012

Ann rated it:

When I started to read this, I found myself confused and misled by the prologue, which is repeated later in the book in the more natural sequence. After I finished the book and read the author's comments, I learned this scene came to her as if she were channeling these characters (followed by the rest of the story). I decided that she probably fought tooth and nail to keep it the opening for the book. I had to flip back to it after I started the next chapter, initially thinking that what Lavinia More...

0 comments like

Nov 29, 2011

Linda rated it:

The Kitchen House is an interesting work of historical fiction set in the South and sharing the lives of slaves and landowners on the plantation. The book will take you through many different emotions from laughter to deep sadness and distaste for some of the arrogant land owners and slaves who have limited life choices. It is well researched and well written. The characters are solid and compelling.

This is the story of Lavina, an Irish immigrant indentured servant girl and the slav More...

0 comments like

Nov 16, 2011

Kimberly rated it:

I found myself unable to put this book down - something I haven't been able to say about any book for a while. The story is about Lavinia - a young girl orphaned on a ship from Ireland and then taken to the captain's plantation to live and work in the kitchen with his black slaves. While there, she becomes deeply bonded with her new black family, but as a white girl in the 19th century south, cannot have a permanent place with them. She eventually goes to live in the "Big House," and I More...

0 comments like

Dec 08, 2011

Hayley rated it:

LOVED this book. Best book I've read all year & I've read some goodies!!! I would highly recommend this book & will be really pulling that we read it for bookclub. I think it makes for some great conversation. I couldn't put it down, I just had to keep reading to find out... GO read it now!!!

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Leah rated it:

If you're in the mood to read book that you can't put down this is the one. If you're in the mood to find 5 minutes here and there during work hours b.c you can wait to get back to your book, this is the one. The Kitchen house is about life on a farm during the late 1700s to the early 1800s. It follows stories of both the privileged family who owns the planation/tobacco fields and the story of the slaves who worked for them. The story is unique b.c there is a deeper sense of compassion toward More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 05, 2011

Luane rated it:

As one of the better reads of late, I'm surprised to find that I can't give this book more stars. The novelty of living the black slave's plantation life from a white indentured servant's perspective was fresh and engrossing. Tales of abuse, addiction, and rape illustrate the brutality and helplessness not only of slaves but also the white owners as well. It is a nicely written, easy to read story of love, loyalty, belonging, and hope found in the middle of what most would consider hell. While More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2011

Amy rated it:

This novel is about slavery in the South during the late 1700s and early 1800s, so of course it is tragic and disturbing. Much of the plot is so sad that I felt compelled to continue reading in hopes of some redemption or solutions. Clearly Grissom did extensive historical research and wrote this novel carefully--her prose feels like she was walking on eggshells to get everything just so, much the same way her characters walked on eggshells in their impossible situations. Her double narrators ha More...

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Oct 21, 2011

Tinab rated it:

I suffered through this book for the sake of book club. There will be an interesting discussion next week. I almost threw the book down at about page 200 but it was on my Nook and I didn't want to break it! But I managed to push through. My main problem with the book is the style. I love to read books that "I love reading" - that is, for the sheer pleasure of the prose. That doesn't mean they have to be happy, but I found nothing at all to enjoy about this style. I'm thinking I don't l More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Kim rated it:

This was a great first novel, much like The Help. It was beautifully written and the plot moved at a good pace. I learned a lot about the society and grew to really love Lavinia and her friends. Some of the key characters were written very 2-dimensional. The white people were either very good or very evil, and the black people were all very good. You definitely knew what kind of impact she was looking for...but life is usually filled with more gray. But we also know (slight SPOILER) that Marsh More...

0 comments like

Sep 09, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I am surprised by all the 4 & 5 star reviews. While the book is somewhat interesting, it falls flat and reeks of melodrama. It's like the Days of our Lives in the 18th century. The book is very repetitious with tragedy and crisis--you become numb to it after awhile. And yes, the characters are very 2 dimensional. I can't believe that Marshall would just become wholly evil. I expected to see a more complex character than that. All the white women in the book are weak and subdued; the black women More...

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2011

Mmtimes4 rated it:

When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle
...more
When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Erin rated it:

This is more like a 2 star book but since the story was compelling enough for me to finish, I gave it 3 stars.

Where do I begin on this review?

I read the author's note and interview immediately following the end of the book. In it she says that the "voices" she hears tell her "their story" and she writes it. She also said, "I tried on a number of occasions to change some of the events (those that I found profoundly disturbing), but the story woul More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

Cathy rated it:

I really debated what rating to give this book. In terms of keeping me turning the pages, it was riveting, and I had a hard time putting it down. The story of Lavinia, the young Irish orphan who was raised by a family of plantation slaves, had me laughing and crying out loud at times.
My main problem with the book, however, was that the author never seemed to go past the plot and what was happening to the characters externally. Because of this, they often came across as a little shallow and More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)