Marie-Anne Mancio

Really loved the historical aspect of this collection of short stories (that really is more than just a collection, because each story in the sequence includes a character from the story before, so they are more of a continuation). They weren't really full stories in themselves, each character got only 30 or so pages, but for short stories they were detailed enough and entertaining enough to keep me reading. I especially enjoyed the character's voices, as they were narrating their own stories often from their childhoods so the reader would know exactly how they found themselves in that particular situation. My favorite by far was the second story which took place in San Francisco before and during the gold rush - while the characters weren't particularly exciting or well-written, the story was so historically detailed that I was pulled in anyway.… (más)

Four women who have never met, or even know of each others existence, but yet they are all connected through one man. It takes place during antebellum period, which was a much different time period than today's time, so the subject matter wasn't as controversial as I once thought before opening the book.

You can tell that a lot of research and studying went into the making of this book which was full of detail and realistic scenarios that might have happened during this time period.

At first I was concerned that this book was going to be about nothing but whores, but it turned out to be so much more. Its about survival as a woman, and doing what they felt they had to, in order to get through life and make their life work.

The book categorizes men and other people into one large group, which I found a bit untrue and a bit jaded like. They go over how all men are bad people, and to me that is just over categorizing.

Overall I found the book to be accurate to the time period, entertaining, and dramatic to the point of intrigue, but not to the point of being over the top. I'd rate this book at 5/5.… (más)

Note: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

These four nineteenth century American short stories are compelling. The stories are linked by each woman’s will to survive and their will to do whatever they have to. There is a great deal of research that had gone into creating these stories and the women’s lives. The stories are informative and vivid. The only problem I had with these stories is that they needed a long introduction into the women’s back-stories that slows the pace down.

Also on http://lrjohnson13.blogspot.com/2012/12/whorticulture-by-marie-anne-mancio.html… (más)