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Wench

Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Goodreads Author)

3.70 · Rating details · 15,199 ratings · 2,054 reviews

An ambitious and startling debut novel that follows the lives of four women at a resort popular among slaveholders who bring their enslaved mistresses

wench 'wench n. from Middle English "wenchel," 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child.

Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is ...more

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Hardcover, 290 pages

Published January 5th 2010 by Amistad (first published December 16th 2009)

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· 15,199 ratings · 2,054 reviews

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May 19, 2010 Will Byrnes rated it really liked it

Set in the mid 19th Century, Wench offers a fictionalized account of a very real and strange practice. Southern slaveowners would vacation in a particular Ohio resort and take slave women along as their vacation partners, leaving their wives at home. The story centers on several slave women, their different backgrounds, experiences with slavery and relationships with the masters. All are used sexually, but one, Lizzie, holds actual feelings for her owner.

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Dolen Perkins-Valdez - from her Twitter ...more

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Apr 14, 2010 Maegen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, chi-raw-bookclub

Wench was a book club choice and I was quite frustrated by it's selection. I hate reading about slavery or anything connected to it. It makes me uncomfortable, sad and angry. Furthermore, the idea that this story focused on the lives and relationships of four slave mistresses turned my stomach. Needless to say, I struggled with this book. It was incredibly difficult for me to get through. I read and put it down so many times that I often thought of not picking it up again, but I kept coming back ...more

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May 29, 2010 Tayari Jones rated it it was amazing

Today I received my copy of Wench, the new novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. I really loved this book. (And what a gorgeous cover!)The novel is set at Tawawa House-- an actual Ohio resort where white plantation owners vacationed with their enslaved mistresses.

I know that there are some readers who are very tired of the American fixation with slave mistresses. I know know where you are coming from. However, this novel is different. For one thing, Wench is the story of four women who are in the same Today I received my copy of Wench, the new novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. I really loved this book. (And what a gorgeous cover!)The novel is set at Tawawa House-- an actual Ohio resort where white plantation owners vacationed with their enslaved mistresses.

I know that there are some readers who are very tired of the American fixation with slave mistresses. I know know where you are coming from. However, this novel is different. For one thing, Wench is the story of four women who are in the same situation. This is a wonderfully modern twist on the historical novel. The four-friend structure, a sly wink at Terry Mac, allows us to see how different women respond to the conundrum of sexual slavery. Never in all my reading have I ever seen enslaved mistresses talk to each other. (Their conversations will give you a lot to think about.)

One of my favorite scenes is when one of the women is saying how much she liked Tawawa House because "we can spend time with our men." Another woman says, "You know he's not your man, don't you?" A Tawawa House, some women play house with their "master" while others plan escape.

This is a hard book to describe. After reading it, I feel weird using the word "mistress." I feel like we need a whole new vocabulary. What do you call a woman who is in a sexual relationship with a man who can sell her kids if he feels like it? Are you a "mistress" if you travel to a resort vacation literally in chains? This book is not romantic, nor is it preachy. Dolen wrestles with the truth and doesn't blink.

The most impressive aspect of this story is Dolen's way of making you unsure of who is right, and who has the best idea. I read this novel is one greedy gulp. The intellectual in me was intrigued by the historical matter. The philosopher in me was roped in with questions about the nature of freedom and progress.

Finally, the part of me that curls up in a slanket, well she stayed up late at night reading because I just had to know what was going to happen next.
...more

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Aug 31, 2015 Monica **can't read fast enough** rated it really liked it

Shelves: aa-authors-reads

Reading WENCH required me to constantly push aside my modern sensibilities. Knowing what slave women had to endure and in many instances convince themselves of in order to simply survive and maintain some sense of sanity is hard to accept. Lizzie is the perfect example of the divided and sometimes misguided loyalties that many slave women had to face. Taken from the only home that she had known and placed on a new plantation at a very young age, Lizzie doesn't have any semblance of a childhood. Reading WENCH required me to constantly push aside my modern sensibilities. Knowing what slave women had to endure and in many instances convince themselves of in order to simply survive and maintain some sense of sanity is hard to accept. Lizzie is the perfect example of the divided and sometimes misguided loyalties that many slave women had to face. Taken from the only home that she had known and placed on a new plantation at a very young age, Lizzie doesn't have any semblance of a childhood. Lack of affection, courtesy, and any positive attention Lizzie is ripe for being emotionally manipulated by her master. What put a little knife in my heart is the fact that a very young Lizzie is easily seduced by minimal kindness and glasses of water.

The four women followed in this story all have very different and unique personalities. They are all handling their stations in life differently but with one common thread. None of them have any say over their lives or the lives of the people they love; not even their children. Of the four women, only Lizzie has any affection for the man who holds her in bondage. Because of her conflicting loyalties it takes her a while to figure out her real place in the world and I found that just as frustrating as the other three women in the story. I had to remind myself that Lizzie is forced into womanhood and motherhood so quickly and at such a young age that she had to find a way to cope with what happens to her. Convincing herself that Drayle cares for her and her children makes things tolerable. However, Lizzie's willful blindness cause great harm to other people who should have been able to count on her.

Although I did enjoy WENCH there were a few circumstances left unfinished and I have some unanswered questions that I would have liked to have had filled in. The story ends abruptly and I just didn't feel as if the story was finished. If it had been an ebook instead of a physical book I would have sworn the last of the story hadn't downloaded. WENCH was published in 2010 and there is no follow up as of yet which is a shame. I would have loved to have gotten a story for Reenie and Mawu although I know that Mawu's story would be gut wrenching.

Where you can find me:
•(♥).•*Monlatable Book Reviews*•.(♥)•
Twitter: @monicaisreading
Instagram: @readermonica
Goodreads Group: The Black Bookcase ...more

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Feb 09, 2010 Jen rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: mainstream chick lit readers who like literary hot pockets

Recommended to Jen by: my middle sister

Shelves: sisters-book-club, chicks-dig-it

-Edited 10/21/12-

If you are considering reading this book and are cruising 'round reviews, then consider reading

The Book of Night Women instead. It is infinitely better, although it will break your heart and stomp on the pieces.

*****original review*****

My thoughts: Should a writer take the most boring character and make her tell the story? Should I write that? Probably not. But, damn! I didn't want to hear any more about mealy-mouthed Lizzie. Give me Mawu, crazy assed Mawu, with the black ...more

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Nov 24, 2014 Zanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bechdel-pass, aahf

Lizzie is a woman in love, on holiday with her lover, a man married to someone else... or is she? What happens to these phrases when we add that Lizzie is a slave, and her 'lover' is her master? Wench confronts this problem from Lizzie's perspective:

Inside the cottage, Lizzie felt human. She could lift her eyes and speak the English Drayle had taught her. She could run her hands along the edges of things in the parlour two chairs, a sofa, a wooden table, a tall oil lamp with a milkglass base, a

Inside the cottage, Lizzie felt human. She could lift her eyes and speak the English Drayle had taught her. She could run her hands along the edges of things in the parlour – two chairs, a sofa, a wooden table, a tall oil lamp with a milkglass base, a cast-iron stove – as if they were hers. And she could sit.

If Lizzie's occasional access to such simple pleasures is exceptional for a slave, Perkins-Valdez leaves us in no doubt about the limited extent of her privileges when on the very next page we read her rehearsing a calm request, but then begging Drayle to free their children, the only ones he has fathered. Drayle sidesteps, avoiding the question. There's never the slightest suggestion of equality in their relationship; though Drayle sometimes makes an effort to keep Lizzie sweet, she is his servant at all times and in all ways. Reading community reviews of this book, I can see that many readers found the topic extremely painful and difficult to read. The ambiguities and implications of Lizzie and her children's status make this a deeply uncomfortable book.

However, there are a lot of things that make it an enjoyable book, less harsh, I felt, than other slave stories. Chiefly, there is friendship. No doubt about this. The relationships Lizzie has with Mawu, Philip, Reenie and Sweet are troubled at times, but they are real, strong and meaningful to her. Her attraction to Mawu is especially beautifully written, at times with sweet hints of eroticism. Mawu herself, the novel's most vibrant character, lifts the book as much as she does the social life of the group of slaves, leavening their lives with her sharp tongue, her magical cooking, her unsubdued spirit. When Lizzie looks at her, she wonders if she has ever been beaten, because she holds herself so boldly, but it turns out that Mawu's life has been full of extreme suffering including many beatings. Three of her four children have been sold, only one boy has not, because a brain injury has made him less saleable. This reminded me of Kindred, in which the cook has only been able to keep one of her children, a deaf girl. Wench reminded me of My Brilliant Friend and Code Name Verity because of the shared strategy of having the viewpoint character admire a bolder friend. I appreciate this move, because it's much easier for me to relate to a fairly timid and ordinary person in awe of someone impressive and charismatic than to imagine myself into the shoes of such a fabulous person!

Two white women are important in Lizzie's life: Drayle's wife Fran, who is typical of master's wives in being neurotic, jealous and annoying, making Lizzie into 'a giant ear', attempting to sell her behind Drayle's back, making temporary pets of her children and generally being a royal pain in the ass, but there are moments when a flicker of empathy appears in her, such as when the trader gropes Lizzie in front of her and she 'looks nervously out of the window', and more decisively when she protects her from Drayle's attentions when she is sick (view spoiler) The other woman is Glory, who lives near the resort and, opposed to slavery and racism, helps Lizzie and Mawu. The first thing she does is show Lizzie where to find some beautiful flowers. The description of these is truly beautiful, linking colours in nature to emphasise a relationship between aesthetic experience, connection to the land, and freedom.

Lizzie's deep friendship with Philip is a source of strength and support, and his narrative journey has heartening aspects. He falls in love with a freeman's daughter, and Perkins-Valdez uses his story to explore one of the ways a person might get out of slavery. She is very skilful in giving each character a distinct personality at the same time as she builds the ideas she wants to communicate into their stories – I feel the book has depth philosophically, intellectually and emotionally, written into the relationships and events at all levels, in beautiful, easily readable prose and a carefully structured plot. I'll read anything Perkins-Valdez writes.

My favourite thing of all is the regular supply of references to Africa, brought most palpably to the resort by Mawu who has rebelliously renamed herself, who carries things on her head 'the way they had in the old country' and learns spiritual knowledge and spells from 'an old conjuring man who lived back of the plantation'. Mawu's disdain for the religious beliefs of the other slaves makes this book more appealing to me personally than slavery stories where the protagonists find strength and solace in Christianity. As well as this window to an imaginary beyond the limits of Euro-American thought, (another, smaller, but no less real is in the name of the resort Tawawa, which Perkins-Valdez is careful to note is the 'Shawnee Indian word for “clear water”') there are other strands that offer hope, such as the neighbouring resort for free black people, which they are guided to by Glory (though she warns them against approaching too closely) and where Lizzie imagines her own daughter as a (care)free girl, and the hints that foreshadow the Civil War. Through all the pain, all the violation and outrage, there are whispers of better things on the way. ...more

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Jan 29, 2015 Jamise // Spines & Vines rated it really liked it

Shelves: black-literature, audiobooks

I've put off reading this book for such a long time because I just didn't want to read another slave story. But this is far more than the life of slave women in the 1800's. This is a story surrounding the power, strength & courage of four women; the safe haven found in true friendships and ties that bind the afflicted. Most of the story takes place in free Ohio at Tawawa Resort where slavemasters vacationed in the summer with their slave mistresses, leaving their wives behind at home. What I ...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Cina rated it it was ok

I gave this book 2 stars because I am still waiting for a conclusion to this book. I kept reading hoping that the more I read the better it would get but that didn't happen. Some of the stories of the characters fell to the side or didn't develop fully, there was very little development and disheartening that the main character Lizzie/Eliza never really realized her worth as a woman in the story. To the bitter end, even knowing what being a slave vs a free black woman meant and who were her ...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Bob Schmitz rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction

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 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. (http://dictionary.reference.com/brows... "chicken wire" that was invented after 1947 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_...)*** 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. ...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Sheila rated it it was ok

I enjoyed this book, but only up to a point. The subject matter was quite gripping, but I found it an "almost there" book rather than a completely satisfying read. I found the prose a bit "prosy"; flat and straightforward, and not always in a good way. The characters were interesting but did not quite come alive; even Lizzie, the main character, who was the most developed, somehow was not completely well-rounded. The biggest disappointment was the ending, because it made no sense to me. Many ...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Mari Anne rated it it was ok

I probably shouldn't have read this so close on the heels of "The Kitchen House". While this novel explores another interesting aspect of Southern antebellum slave life, it wasn't nearly as well done as "The Kitchen House". I am waffling between 2 and 3 stars for this one.

"Wench" explores the lives of four slaves who act as mistresses to their slave owners. They meet up four summers in a row at a Northern resort and the novel explores their lives and situations.

The basic storyline is very ...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Taryn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

We who have spent a February or two in Americas public schools know intellectually that slavery is terrible. We look back with dewy young eyes on the Civil War era and nod along as our teachers describe what the lives of slaves were like. We know the words of the story by heart, an oft-repeated refrain that grows comfortable in its familiarity. We are so comfortable with slavery as Americas legacy that we can no longer see it for what it was.

And what it was, was horror.

Wench made me feel that We who have spent a February or two in America’s public schools know intellectually that slavery is terrible. We look back with dewy young eyes on the Civil War era and nod along as our teachers describe what the lives of slaves were like. We know the words of the story by heart, an oft-repeated refrain that grows comfortable in its familiarity. We are so comfortable with slavery as America’s legacy that we can no longer see it for what it was.

And what it was, was horror.

Wench made me feel that horror. It scrubbed away the anesthesia of a childhood full of whitewashed history lessons and brought me face to face with the wrenching complexities that constituted slave life. Your child is not your own. Your child can be taken from you, at any moment, with no explanation and no recourse. Your husband is not your own. He is not even your husband; he is your owner, and can do with you whatever he chooses, indulge any whim at any time. Your body, your life, are not your own. During the time I was listening to this book, I had to sit with those thoughts. Afterwards, I felt my skin had been scrubbed raw.

Perkins-Valdez takes us deep inside her characters. Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet, and Mawu are slave mistresses. They meet every summer at a resort in Ohio where their masters take them for some private time, away from judging eyes. Their position is an impossible one: they are in some ways favored—allowed to sleep in the house instead of the slave quarters, given better rations and clothing—but in others horribly exploited. The relationships share many dynamics of abusive marriages, with their constant ambivalence—the women never know whether they will be treated as human or chattel, and they can never trust their masters because the balance of power is always skewed.

And still, these women have to get up every morning and live their lives as best they can, inside the web of a waking nightmare that has trapped them like flies. Are you feeling the tension yet?

I love books that lift the veil from my eyes and allow me to see the world in a more honest way. Books that shock me awake like a bucket of cold water over my head. Books that tell me a story that in my jadedness I thought I’d already heard before. Wench does all of those things, and does it in lyrical, lovely prose, a stylistic choice which makes it all the more heartbreaking.

An emotionally challenging but necessary read. Book clubs, order another round of drinks, because your discussion will run overtime.

More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com ...more

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Dec 15, 2010 Roxane rated it liked it

This is a good book but not a great book. The writing is not as strong as it could be. Slavery-related stories are difficult because there are just so many and at this point, when there are books as unique as, say, The Known World, any new entrants to the genre need to be exceptional to stand apart. What is exceptional about Wench is the story of slave women with their masters at a resort for the summer in a free state. That's a perfect site of narrative tension. The writing, however falters. ...more

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May 05, 2014 Tara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Not just another book retelling the horrors of slavery. Perkins-Valdez brings to life a little-known piece of history, and I'm so glad she did. If she hadn't, the fact that white slave owners not only kept black women as sex slaves, but elevated them in a way that sometimes surpassed the roles of their own white wives, and traveled with them on vacation to a place near Xenia, Ohio, would have disappeared into our tragic American history. The author worked hard to show the complexity of the ...more

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Jan 04, 2014 Kathrina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: american-fiction, african-american, oakdale-prison

The historical authority necessary to write this novel was too much for this first-time author. There are various historical anachronisms that just rub wrong ("driveway", "chicken wire", growing soybeans in pre-Civil War Tennessee), but most importantly, the characters are flat, and our narrator's emotional terrain remains as elusive as it did in the first chapter. Perkins-Valdez admits to not knowing where her narrator was going as she began the novel, and I argue that she never did discover ...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Lois rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, books-i-read-in-2011, books-i-own-digital-copy, african-diaspora-interest, african-american-historical, slavery-fiction, audio-book, poc-pov-char-or-peripheral-char, person-of-color-author, kindle-unlimited-or-scribd

This remains as good as I remembered.

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Jan 27, 2011 Rashida rated it really liked it

Shelves: herstory, historical-fiction, unexpected-enjoyment

Slavery in America. What an awful window into the human soul. Being a black woman, it's a subject that I both never wish to have to confront again, but also know that I MUST be educated about, even when the social institutions responsible for conveying history fail to give it the proper illumination. So, I go through these reading binges and purges, where I read many books on slavery and then just bear to read another word. I first heard of Wench when I was at the end of a binge, and I had no Slavery in America. What an awful window into the human soul. Being a black woman, it's a subject that I both never wish to have to confront again, but also know that I MUST be educated about, even when the social institutions responsible for conveying history fail to give it the proper illumination. So, I go through these reading binges and purges, where I read many books on slavery and then just bear to read another word. I first heard of Wench when I was at the end of a binge, and I had no interest in reading this novel, frankly. I was emotionally worn on the subject, and reading the descriptions, I was imagining some Harlequin romance retelling. So, it did not make the to-read shelf.

But my Goodreads friends kept reading it and giving it more stars than less. And if I may brag on y'all, I have some pretty reliable goodreads friends with pretty sophisticated taste levels. So, while being dragged through some huge big box member only warehouse store, I saw this book on the paperbacks table and decided to make my own contribution to the development of literary fiction by a person of color.

Though I've gone this far without mentioning what I thought of the book, yet, I hope that you'll agree with me that the background was necessary to highlight my attitude going into this: ambivalent at best. I was pleasantly surprised. Perkins-Valdez takes a historical footnote and seems to realistically extrapolate it into this portrait of women that history has ignored. In telling the story of four different women, she shows the different ways that a woman's life in this circumstance could have looked, while showing the undeniable cruelty involved in any iteration of this system of human bondage. I am grateful to her for writing such a story. I could not fulfill my duty of being educated about my ancestors if there are not people willing to tell the stories, and to do so beautifully.

What this book, and truthfully many books in this genre, does not do, is answer the question: how could this happen. It does not get into the mind of the men and explain how a person could, without experiencing a psychotic break, view a person as both their lover and their property, their child and no better than an animal. Perkins-Valdez wasn't necessarily trying to do this, but it remains the great unanswered for me. How did the people responsible for such unthinkable acts justify themselves. Adding to the unfathomable failure of so many human beings to act in a recognizably human manner is that fact that these men are professing to have some sort of feeling for these women. Yes, maybe just lustful, but in the very act of bringing the women to a vacation resort, aren't they acknowledging that there is a degree of humanity to them. That their lives have room for improvement from the conditions they are regularly subjected to? So, how? Just how did slavery happen?

Yes, I know that just as there are first hand accounts of slavery surviving, there are some (though not many, and not representing the average) first hand accounts from slave owners themselves. But, for all my questioning of motives and justifications, I cannot honestly say that I wish to expose myself to them.

The main point of this review, then, is that the subject matter is difficult, the reading of it is painful, many raised questions are unanswered because they are unanswerable, but if you are up to it, these women's stories deserve to be read. ...more

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Jul 11, 2016 Chrisolu rated it it was amazing

4.5 stars

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Jul 29, 2018 Ashley rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: period-pieces

This is a solid three stars. The book was neither bad nor good, just in-between. The story of Lizzie and her indecisiveness regarding the claiming of her freedom is a confusing one at times and full of questions and confusing bits. I think the author tried to tie too many strings together regarding slavery, the abuse of slave women, freedom, abolitionists, etc, its just a hodge-podge of ideas and thoughts with a story line that jumps back and forth through time. There were many parts that were ...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Melodie rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, african-american-literature

This was an ambitious debut work.The title alone was a punch to the gut. Slavery is a tough topic,one that is multi-layered and fraught with landmines with potential to offend.Wile I found her to be a little wordy,I found the author up to the task on the subject.
Four slave mistresses accompany their masters,leaving wives and children, to a resort in the free state of Ohio. There the men and their slave mistresses occupy little cottages around the property. This strange arrangement is an open ...more

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Jan 23, 2014 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: kobo

As I am a Goodreads member, I have noticed that Wench seems to be a book that is buzzing especially among some of my favorite authors. I am glad that I took time to read it because once I started, it was impossible to put down!

Wench is the story of four slave women- Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu who vacation in the state of Ohio with their white masters. Say what? Nope, I am not crazy, There actually was a resort in the 1850's where white slave owners could bring their female slaves and they ...more

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Jan 26, 2018 Steph's Romance Book Talk rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: standalones, sensitive-topics, urban-dialog, captive-enslavement, not-for-the-faint-of-heart, audiobooks, historical, rating-3-stars, read-in-2018, 2018-romance-roundup-challenge

All I will say is this book reminded me why I do not read books about slavery and that timeframe. Although it was well written, the inhumanity of early United States is just not something that I choose to indulge in when reading books. I am under no misconceptions or denial that these things happened but I think they just hit to close to home in that if I was born during that time, these are the things that could be done to me.

This video review will be included in the January 2018 Wrap-up.

For ...more

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Feb 08, 2017 Kim rated it liked it

3.5 stars, this was a good one!

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Nov 15, 2010 Kimberly rated it really liked it

I loved this book! It offered a a refreshing take on a subject that slave owners and their "mistresses", although I use this word loosely because it implies that these women freely entered these relationships. I think with all the reviews of the book, it is not neccessary for me to recap what it is about. What I would like to say is that I loved how the author showed you four women in the same situation, and how each one of them viewed their situation differently. And how knowing one another ...more

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Feb 07, 2010 Irene rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Irene by: Author Exposure

Shelves: gave-away

Reviewed for Author Exposure: http://www.authorexposure.com/2011/04...

In 1852, as the blistering summer heat descends upon the South, numerous plantation owners abandon their dejected wives and depart with their preferred slave mistresses to vacation in the cooler climates across the river in Ohio. Among them is Nathan Drayle of Tennessee, who arrives with his slave horseman, Philip, and his slave mistress, Lizzie, the mother of his son and daughter. Despite Nathans calculated prepubescent Reviewed for Author Exposure: http://www.authorexposure.com/2011/04...

In 1852, as the blistering summer heat descends upon the South, numerous plantation owners abandon their dejected wives and depart with their preferred slave “mistresses” to vacation in the cooler climates across the river in Ohio. Among them is Nathan Drayle of Tennessee, who arrives with his slave horseman, Philip, and his slave “mistress”, Lizzie, the mother of his son and daughter. Despite Nathan’s calculated prepubescent seduction, Lizzie steadfastly believes he loves and respects her. In his cunning deceit to sexually claim her, he taught her to read by steadily luring her with little gifts of beautiful books which she, who owned nothing, treasured and kept secret.

“She was afraid of him, but with each reading lesson she allowed him to take one more step with her….At first, he asked to touch her. Later, he did not. Each touch was like a payment for his kindnesses…” (Page 92)

While the Southern men enjoy the numerous amenities of the grand hotel, Lizzie delightedly mingles with other cottage friends, Sweet, Reenie and Mawu. They are all abuzz about their year apart. With cautious restraint, they adhere to strict schedules and required duties while their masters are away; fully aware of what is expected upon their return.

Female friendship, with all its attendant characteristics, is an unfamiliar indulgence to Lizzie. Alliances first formed out of necessity, are now sought to share secrets, provide resilient support when necessary, and enhance the simple pleasures of laughter and companionship.

Lizzie, still in awe of the free-state resort, is also curious about another one beyond the thicket of trees where prosperous free black men and women vacation. The concept of such extravagance is foreign to all. Gradually, either by self admission or a master’s humiliation, the repugnant facets of each woman’s history is laid bare, and each contemplates the perilous attempt to escape the psychological and physical chains that bind them. Sweet’s tragic departure lies in a mournful direction. Reenie’s shocking disappearance reveals an unknown strength. Mawu’s unrestrained behavior leads to painful, but predictable consequences. Lizzie, finally able to dispel her previously idealistic certainties about Nathan, chooses a singular approach. Nathan assures her that their son will receive an education, but emphatically denies a similar future for their daughter.

“…she thought of Rabbit and what she would teach her…Don’t give in to the white man. And if you have to give in, don’t give your soul over to him. Love yourself first. Fix it so you don’t give him children…Hold fast to your women friends because they are going to be there when ain’t nobody else there…Never forget your name…Don’t be afraid to say how you feel. Learn a craft so you always have something to barter other than your private parts…” (Pages 287-288)

“…All these years, she realized, she had been putting her faith in Drayle to free her children. Now she had to put her faith in herself…Each and every day, she reminded herself of this so that she wouldn’t fall backward. She was more than eyes, ears, lips, and thigh. She was a heart. She was a mind.” (Page 290)

Wench is compellingly distinctive in its candid approach to the mystifying and intimidating manipulation within the theoretically clandestine relationship between Southern masters and their preferred female slaves. Dolen Perkins-Valdez’ ingenious debut paints a fascinating portrait of the delicate balance which shapes their unpredictable lives and, despite their seemingly lofty position, accentuates the constant fear of dire consequences of any errant word or inadvertent action deemed inappropriate or duplicitous. Utilizing flashback sequences without sycophantic sentimentality, she unflinchingly depicts a vividly detailed narrative about four enslaved women’s lives shackled to their masters’ erratic whims.

While reading the book, there is an indefinable fleeting sensation that this author is personally familiar with each life-altering event and, as an observant eyewitness, chronicles a truthful rendering with unwavering scrutiny. Wench immediately captures you, and long after you finish, you will not fail to remember Lizzie, Sweet, Reenie, and Mawu; resilient, steadfast and courageous. ...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Monique rated it really liked it

Shelves: cant-hold-me-down-slavery-stories

Okay so I must admit with the replaying of Roots: An American Family Saga over the holidays and I dont know my recent fascination with the Civil war and slavery I put this book on hold at a neighboring library and picked it up willingly..I found the premise hands down just so interesting with one of the most intriguing leads ever promoting the story of a resort hotel in the free state of Ohio where Southern slaveowners would leave their strenous (bah) life of running a plantation and using and Okay so I must admit with the replaying of Roots: An American Family Saga over the holidays and I dont know my recent fascination with the Civil war and slavery I put this book on hold at a neighboring library and picked it up willingly..I found the premise hands down just so interesting with one of the most intriguing leads ever promoting the story of a resort hotel in the free state of Ohio where Southern slaveowners would leave their strenous (bah) life of running a plantation and using and abusing human beings for profit and travel for unabashed male time and privacy with their slave mistresses..the book's heroines the four Negro wenches Lizzie, Sweet, Reenie and Mawu. This is a brilliant retelling of slave women with no possessions of their own not even time their own thoughts or desires, it was heartbreaking to read the stories of the women in different relationships with the men who own them..Understandably all women harbor the resentment and anger of being a slave and not a willing participant to the "nighttime activities" of the masters but what if somewhere a bit of tenderness grows as in Lizzie's situation where she truly felt that though she was lowly and poor that her master really loved her and offered her kindness when he could though he refused to free her or the children they created together. Lizzie's precarious situation offered just one scenario as you also meet Sweet, a woman whose master obviously adored her and to whom she bore five children for, she seems not as enamored as Lizzie but still has the compassion and at least a form of like for her master while Reenie and Mawu both despise their status, their captors and share the horrific stories of why..With the women in a free state the temptation to escape dances through their head multiple times and for different reasons each must decide if they are strong enough to head on to freedom..I appreciate the realness of the story as they talked about everything dirty, uncomfortable and impossibly sad about the plight of a slave woman..How must it be to not be able to read, not be in charge of your own body, your own mind, your own day, your clothes and in some cases your heart as the women clung to their lives out of love of their children..I had so many feelings as I read and it would have been a five star book if the ending and characters were expounded upon a bit more..I do recommend this book as an eyeopener and a tool to make you think and show you the obstacles we overcame to be so strong..Another great fact you find out about this book is that the resort once used for illicit activites by Southern slaveowners in need of a vacation was taken over by missionaries to be a school to educate free coloreds and this place is still in existence today as Oberlin College..that alone was worth a star and worth recommending.. :) ...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Adam rated it did not like it · review of another edition

"Show, don't tell" is one of the key principles of good writing. Dolen Perkins-Valdez doesn't appear to have learned this.

Let me offer an example with a single sentence from Chapter 32:
"Even before the words that followed, the words that would deliver Mawu's message, Lizzie knew something was wrong."

That's padding, folks. Eighteen words doing the work of five. "Lizzie knew something was wrong" alone would have conveyed everything.

Some of the historical details are also suspect. Drayle, Lizzie's "Show, don't tell" is one of the key principles of good writing. Dolen Perkins-Valdez doesn't appear to have learned this.

Let me offer an example with a single sentence from Chapter 32:
"Even before the words that followed, the words that would deliver Mawu's message, Lizzie knew something was wrong."

That's padding, folks. Eighteen words doing the work of five. "Lizzie knew something was wrong" alone would have conveyed everything.

Some of the historical details are also suspect. Drayle, Lizzie's master and lover, is said to have made his plantation profitable with cotton and soybeans. Soybeans in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1840s? I'm no agricultural historian, but I don't think soybeans were raised in any significant numbers in the U.S. until the 20th century, and I'm almost certain they wouldn't have been a cash crop for an antebellum plantation.

The characters, too, lack depth. A great writer can make you inhabit a character's life no matter how far removed from your own experience it may be. But even by the end of the book I felt no closer to understanding how Lizzie feels or why she acts the way she does, much less what's going on in the minds and hearts of any of the other characters.

Yet, despite these significant flaws, the edition I've just read opens with 3 1/2 pages of praise from various reviewers, and I see more than a few four- or five-star reviews here on Goodreads. This could be puzzling, but I have a theory: Dolen Perkins-Valdez has plucked one of the low-hanging fruits of the current literary climate.

What I mean is that there are certain subjects so imbued with drama, emotion and philosophical challenges to a reader that a writer doesn't have to bother with setting up those vital elements of a good story. Slave narratives fall into this category, as does any story about the Holocaust or a struggle with sexual identity. Not to say that these subjects can't inspire wonderful and brilliant novels and works of nonfiction. They can and they have. And the basic elements of "Wench" should have set it up to take a spot among the canon of great works on such subjects. It could have been brilliant and engaging, easily a Pulitzer contender. Instead it reads like a pulp historical romance.

...more

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May 13, 2010 Morgan F rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, nfa-library, 2000s, goodreads-author, slavery, its-a-girl, read-2011

I read about slavery for the same reason I read about Holocaust fiction; most of the time, I am guaranteed a powerful, emotionally resonant read. The subject alone could have made this book powerful, however the writing and poor character development made this an unenjoyable read.

Something about the prose was awkward and stumbling. I never forgot for a second I was reading a book. Normally, a book would sweep me up, making me either forget about the prose or making me marvel in its beauty. This ...more

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Oct 11, 2010 Daenel rated it really liked it

It took me a little while to really get into this book, in fact, it took me about a month to read it but once I got into it, it was hard for me to put it down. This novel has so many different themes:

the inhumanity of slavery
maternity and the sacrifices women make for their children
race relations
the importance of education
friendships between women
But I think the overwhelming theme (and the one that is probably most relevant to todays audience) is that women are worth more than their lady parts. ...more

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Feb 03, 2011 Janelle rated it it was ok

This work of historical fiction had the potential to be riveting - the main characters are white Southern plantation owners and their black slave mistresses, and the setting alternates between the Southern farms and a summer resort in Ohio where the men vacation with their mistresses (usually without their wives along). However, the execution didn't quite live up to the promise of the premise. Without a solid literary foundation, the plot came off as sentimental and I felt voyeuristic rather ...more

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About Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Dolen Perkins-Valdez

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Dolen Perkins-Valdezs fiction and essays have appeared or will appear in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, African American Review, PMS: PoemMemoirStory, North Carolina Literary Review, Richard Wright Newsletter, and SLI: Studies in Literary Imagination. She is a 2009 finalist for the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Award. A graduate of Harvard and a former University of California Presidents ...more

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“My children ain’t the only thing I love. If I was allowed, I reckon I’d love myself, too.” — 15 likes

“At night, before she went to sleep in her cabin down in the quarters, she remembered Mawu’s story and told herself that she was a god, a powerful god. Each and every day, she reminded herself of this so that she wouldn’t fall backward. She was more than eyes, ears, lips, and thigh. She was a heart. She was a mind” — 6 likes

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