Vanessa Riley

Fine. Dolly is resourceful and smart as a whip. The majority of this is her being a businesswoman and the various white mens infatuated with her (varying in power imbalances from much to little to none). Wealth becomes a security blanket for Dolly, helping keep the nightmares, the past, the racism, and the feelings of inadequacy at bay.

Don’t be put off by the length. Each chapter is bite-sized.

I was very impressed by what the author was able to infer from historical documents. The narrative voice for Dolly was also good. I had never heard of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas before this. But I wanted more about how Dolly started training her workers than all the dalliances with mens.

Cells was just raggedy to me, and he never really stopped. i think he liked the push and pull.… (más)

From page 7:

"On the count of three, I'd grab the fat tree trunk.
One.
Two.
Two and a half.
Two and a third.
Three. I started and clung to the vine..."

HOLD UP. DOES THIS AUTHOR THINK 2 AND 1/3 COMES *AFTER* 2 AND 1/2?! I THOUGHT THIS AUTHOR HAD A PHD IN ENGINEERING FROM STANFORD.

I apologize for the all-caps, but I can't even.

Am I so petty that I couldn't get over this one small mistake? Yes. Yes, I am. It makes me think no one who worked on this book understands simple fractions.… (más)

1.5 star rounded to 2.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I wanted to read it after seeing some others interested in reading it. I can't say it was as good as I expected and there was a lot of comments/suggestions that make me gag so not really something I'd recommend.

It was also not as strong of a story as it could have been, I found the writing style to be good but it skipped at points.

Content: mentions of false gods, sexual suggestions/mentions/intentions, gambling, and more.… (más)