Yellow Crocus in Crazy Challenge Connection

Apr 29, 2013 Jamie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-read, historical-fiction, chick-lit

This was a wonderfully written book! This book follows two characters, Mattie and Lisbeth, and is set in the mid-1800's in Virginia. Mattie is a slave woman for Lisbeth's family and is called in to be a wet nurse to young Elizabeth (Lisbeth). Forced to leave her own son just a few months old, Mattie is moved into the house and raises the young girl, almost as her own, for several years...

The first half of the book we gets the first several years from Mattie, but as the years wear on, it starts t This was a wonderfully written book! This book follows two characters, Mattie and Lisbeth, and is set in the mid-1800's in Virginia. Mattie is a slave woman for Lisbeth's family and is called in to be a wet nurse to young Elizabeth (Lisbeth). Forced to leave her own son just a few months old, Mattie is moved into the house and raises the young girl, almost as her own, for several years...

The first half of the book we gets the first several years from Mattie, but as the years wear on, it starts to shift to Lisbeth's. We get to see her turmoil as Mattie longs to be with her son and family but has also grown close to her young charge. All seems as ideal as it can be for a slave family for the first several yours but as Mattie's son grows older, problems arise.

We switch to Lisbeth as she begins o be taught about society, and her place in it. And the place of slaves, men, etc. When Mattie is no longer by her side she is forced to make her own decisions for good or bad. But what is that in the 1850's? How do you cope being divided by love from family?

I greatly appreciated the honesty the author brought forth. So many are afraid to speak or write the truth of how things were. While this book surely tones it down, it does note paint it pretty either. And the further into the book, the darker some of the subjects get. I hate when authors over sugar-coat the past. All men were NOT seen as equal then. and women were not to men. This portrays things relatively accurate. My feelings toward the characters were mild but consistently there. A light empathy.

This book hits some deep subjects. For those who get angry at the idea of slavery or past prejudice, do not read this. This refers to slaves as they were called in those days. This is not for the young readers, there is a rape scene,and whipping in this. For the mature reader this is a wonderful book for both history and the bonds of love, family, loyalty and friendship.

I received this book from Flaming Chalice Press in exchange for a fair and honest review. So special thanks to them! *No money or other exchanges involved*

2020- Touchy touchy subject these days. Touchy language. But I am glad the author kept to the truth of the matter. She didn't assume too much of how life was for everyone but enough that will make you think and wonder. Good and bad. It is sad to see how easily people just accepted things without question. The roles one plays in life. Turning a blind eye to what happens to those in the quarters. What is allowed. It is terrible. It even shows how some plantations were far worse than others. I felt more connected to the characters the second time. I even cried a bit at the end. But I did notice some bad formatting with the amazon download. ...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Kari rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, read-in-2012

“This is our story. You will wonder if it is true; I can assure you it is, though my parents wish it were otherwise. This is as true a story as has ever been told: the story of my love for Mattie, and, I suppose, her love for me in return.”

These words set the tone for a poignant tale that chronicles a young slave taken from her own child to be the wet-nurse to her master’s daughter. Mattie feels conflicted over her desire to be with her son versus her growing love for her young charge. As

“This is our story. You will wonder if it is true; I can assure you it is, though my parents wish it were otherwise. This is as true a story as has ever been told: the story of my love for Mattie, and, I suppose, her love for me in return.”

These words set the tone for a poignant tale that chronicles a young slave taken from her own child to be the wet-nurse to her master’s daughter. Mattie feels conflicted over her desire to be with her son versus her growing love for her young charge. As she continues to care for her young charge the bond between them becomes so strong that the little girl cannot bear to be parted from her Mattie. No such relationship is ever formed between mother and daughter. Mattie becomes Lisbeth’s world. As they travel through Lisbeth’s childhood this attachment only grows stronger.

Love, loss, and sorrow are always prominent themes when reading about slavery in the Pre-Civil War South. Many, many stories over the years have explored and chronicled the hardships that were faced during this time period, and the effects it had on the people who experienced it. The great thing about Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim is that it is not just a rehashing of the Southern-slavery stories that have been told before. The desire to escape, the harrowing journey to freedom, even the master-slave relationship are all given pretty low highlights in this novel. Instead, this novel chronicles the bond between a mother (caretaker) and child despite their differences in social stature and skin color, in a time where that was a huge obstacle to overcome.

As Lisbeth grows she begins to see the differences in the quality of life she has as compared to that of Mattie and Mattie’s family. The different atrocities carried out against Southern slaves and justified by the ruling class seem unfair to young Lisbeth. Eventually she begins to learn things that just don’t sit right with her, and she is faced with the choice of following the society she was born into and having to live with the knowledge of what happens around her every day, or find a way to change her destiny.

This story is beautifully written, and the story sucks you in. I sat down to start reading this book before bed and ended up reading through the night because I just couldn’t put it down. Ibrahim’s story had me hooked, I found myself on the edge of my seat rooting for the characters as I went along. The idea of a master-slave relationship that WASN’T based on the love between a man and a woman but rather an adopted mother and child was compelling. In the end both of them must deal with the consequences that slavery brought to society at that time, no matter what station they held in life it still touched them both deeply.

My only complaint with this book was the level of inattention that Lisbeth’s parents displayed. I have a hard time believing that such staunch Southern aristocracy would be so lenient with their “Southern Belle” as to let her spend that much time hanging around with field hands and drive her own buggy around to wherever she felt. When a good marriage and social opinion could make or break a family, they would not be leaving fate in the hands of a 19 year old daughter who has clearly developed sympathies for the help. Especially given the looming beginning of the Civil War and all the tension that abolitionist-sympathizers created. Everything about the relationship between Lisbeth and her parents was shallow and seemed unlikely to me. I had a hard time suspending belief about it.

Overall this story is a fantastic read and brings much to a saturated genre. It is worth picking up and giving a chance to. I look forward to seeing more from Laila Ibrahim in the future.

This review also appears at www.caffeinatedbooker.com ...more

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Apr 26, 2015 Rusty rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

Mattie was little more than a child when she was called to the big house but she had a baby of her own so she was eligible to nurse the tiny Elizabeth. At first she hated the little white girl baby because she took her away from her Samuel but as time passed she fell in love with her. The love grew into a friendship between an ignorant slave girl/woman and a white plantation girl/woman. The tale is one of those warm fuzzy reads that make the reader feel just plain happy. Happy that friendship ca ...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Connie N. rated it really liked it

Shelves: yellow, flower-on-cover, 1800-s, color-in-title, kindle, recommended, historical-fiction, southern, virginia

What a fascinating book! It's set in the 1800's, before the Civil War, when slaves were commonplace and accepted in Virginia, although there were some white people (Abolitionists) who were starting to protest the practice. It's shocking that they were treated as 3/4 of a person, no more important than any other property. Just as you wouldn't ask a table if it wanted to be moved, slave-owners didn't ask slaves if they wanted to be sold. And with transportation and communication being sold limited ...more

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