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 like these books that are in the style of a journal by the main characters. It makes sense that the main characters might not have a good style of writing, but it makes for very plodding reading. This awful thing happened, and then that awful thing happened, and then this nice thing happened, but it turned out that the person that I thought was nice was really evil.... Maybe it would be better in film. (Some books that I love to read because of their style do not translate so well to the screen, but this one might go the other direction.) People compare "The Kitchen House" to "The Help," (also not my favorite book) but at least in "The Help," some of the characters were engaging in their style. "Little Bee" was also about atrocities, in a narrated style but I loved every other chapter of it (the ones by Little Bee). That is my main complaint about "The Kitchen House." The style was not engaging - no description, no beauty, and I didn't care for the main character. I'm not saying a book always has to be happy or funny or witty, but I want at least to enjoy the style. The idea of historical fiction is interesting to me, and as I've been doing a lot of family history research regarding this time period, I was very excited to have this book chosen. I was very disappointed. All that being said, it does help put the tragedy of slavery and indentured servitude in a personal, painful perspective. That might make this an "important" book as one of my book club friends is fond of saying. I just wish I liked it more. Over-all, I felt the scenario was plausible up until the last several chapters, but those last few I thought were highly unlikely, and finally very cheesy at the end. Since most people loved the book, perhaps my review is overly harsh, but I can't help how I feel. I read history and feel compassion for the atrocities committed, but I'd rather not read fiction that brings me down like that without any other recommendations of style to help it along.