I felt the story fell flat. Undeniably, several parts played to my emotions, as the main characters (slaves of a plantation and subservient women) were raped, murdered, emotionally harmed. However beyond these emotional ups and downs, the story didn't conclude much. (Perhaps that is an unfair criticism - as the lives of slaves were undoubtedly unsatisfying.) Also, the dual narration writing style seemed to be an effort to give a voice to two sides of the story - white and black - but I don't feel like it added much. Lavinia's narration (the white perspective) dominated the story, with an occasional sprinkling of Belle's perspective (the black kitchen slave). It seemed that often Belle was repeating facts or feelings that the reader had already gleaned from Lavinia.