Rosina Lippi's Blog, page 23
January 1, 2015
Review: The Invention of WIngs by Sue Monk Kidd
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Historical fiction is my natural habitat. I write it for a living, and I read it constantly. I know what went into the writing of this novel and I admire the way the author brought Charleston to life. The history itself, the story of the Grimke sisters and their dedication to abolition and women’s rights, is enthralling stuff.
Sue Monk Kidd can write a beautiful sentence, she can construct a paragraph and a scene and put it all together. So all the pieces are there, but the novel failed to come together for me. The problem for me was mostly about mechanics, pacing and focus.
Kidd seems to never really decide what this novel is about. If it’s about the Grimke sisters and their mission to educate the country and bring about justice, then it takes far too long to get off the ground. A full half of the novel takes place before they really get started. If it’s about Handful, then her story is unbalanced and piecemeal. Pacing is crucial to a story like this, and the pacing was off.
My strong impression is that Kidd would have been better able to find a rhythm if she had written this in third person. She never really gets her feet on the ground writing as Sarah or as Handful; approaching the story in third person would have given her more perspective and focused the narrative.
A number of times I felt as if we were finally shifting up out of first gear only to fall back again into a putter. It’s unfortunate, because the material is very rich and full of promise.
writing prompt
I came across this today on a website dedicated to the study of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in American culture. It strikes me as the beginning (or the end) of an interesting bit of historical fiction, the allusion to Topsy aside.
My first impulse is to spend some time trying to find out more about this Edna Wilson (was this psychosis, or something less organic?), but in the spirit of sticking to business (that is, I’ve started the sequel to The Gilded Hour) I’m sending it out into the world in the hope that somebody else will be interested enough to do that.
The New York Times
8 May 1925
Sent Back to Bedford as a “White Topsy”
Woman Accused of Theft, After Breaking Parole, Collapses When Plea Is Denied.
When Edna Wilson, called by the police “the beloved thief,” came before Judge Collins for sentence in Special Sessions yesterday, she collapsed as soon as she was ordered back to Bedford Reformatory, from which she had broken her parole.
“Don’t send me back to that place. Don’t send me back to Bedford,” she screamed. She was carried from the court room by attendants.
Judge Collins held that despite the girl’s plea not to be returned to the institution she must be sent back for violation of her parole. He said he would extend extreme clemency in pronouncing judgment relative to the latest charge against her, explaining that he would withhold sentence pending her good behavior for the remaining sixteen months she must serve at the reformatory.
The girl’s latest escapade, for which she came up for sentence yesterday, was the theft on March 29 of a coat valued at $2,900 and various other articles of clothing and jewelry from Mrs. Pearl Reed Myers of 680 Riverside Drive, wife of a tobacco manufacturer. The girl had posed to Mrs. Myers as “Elsie Robinson,” a newspaper writer, and she was invited to spend the night at the Myers home. Next morning the girl had disappeared with the valuables. She was soon arrested and indicted.
In pronouncing sentence the Judge referred to her as “a white Topsy,” saying she was a girl who apparently never could resist temptation.
“She just can’t stop stealing,” said the Judge. “She gets into the good graces of respectable people and then robs them. Although better educated than was the famous character of Mrs. Stowe, nevertheless she is a white Topsy.”
December 16, 2014
Where to find the Wilderness novels
December 10, 2014
welcome
December 8, 2014
Manhattan Island ca 1883: the map
November 30, 2014
before the flat iron building
November 23, 2014
The Gilded Hour publication date
November 22, 2014
Review: A list of things that didn’t kill me, Jason Schmidt
A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me by Jason Schmidt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jason was a student in one of my creative writing classes in 1998, and I can say without reservation that he is the most talented undergraduate I ever worked with. I have followed his writing ever since — through his (now defunct, and much missed) weblog, short stories, a beautifully written novel, and finally this memoir.
There are very basic things children should be able to take for granted, whether rich or poor: food, someplace to sleep, a watchful and nurturing adult. Kids who don’t have those things have to fight every day to survive on the fringe, and harder still, to move beyond the experiences that shaped them. The only weapons available are the ones they can find within themselves. A person who fights that very long and difficult battle and comes out a whole human being has grown a kind of armor. The problem is that you can’t make other people understand that journey unless you’re able and willing to take off that armor and let them see the scars. Jason did that, but a careful reader will come away with more than an understanding of how he survived.
There are thousands of kids out there right now who are experiencing life the way Jason did. Too many of them won’t survive, or will come into adulthood unable to do anything else but follow the pattern they’ve internalized. After reading this memoir it will be harder for the more fortunate not to see those kids. And that’s exactly as it should be.
Review: A list of things that didn't kill me, Jason Schmidt
November 8, 2014
Medical mystery: Quadruplets, 1867
