Barbara Wright (1)

I'm 40% done with this book and so far there is zero plot. The same thing keeps happening over and over again. Well-meaning Moses gets in trouble and his too-perfect dad has all the right things to say. Boo Nanny says something wise and folksy. Rinse and repeat.

The book is well-written and the historical setting is intriguing (particularly for readers who know that Jim Crow and segregation are coming), but it's taking so long to get to the, you know, story that I'm losing interest and feeling exasperated.

UPDATE

I finally finished and I will say that the final third of the book is much more gripping than the rest of it. I'm giving it three stars because it's not a bad book. Still, I can't get behind it. It's overly didactic. It takes too long to get interesting. And I would rather read an interesting nonfiction book about the 1898 Wilmington coup d'etat.… (más)

Goodreads Review:
The summer of 1898 is filled with ups and downs for 11-year-old Moses. He's growing apart from his best friend, his superstitious Boo-Nanny butts heads constantly with his pragmatic, educated father, and his mother is reeling from the discovery of a family secret. Yet there are good times, too. He's teaching his grandmother how to read. For the first time she's sharing stories about her life as a slave. And his father and his friends are finally getting the respect and positions of power they've earned in the Wilmington, North Carolina, community. But not everyone is happy with the political changes at play and some will do anything, including a violent plot against the government, to maintain the status quo.

One generation away from slavery, a thriving African American community—enfranchised and emancipated—suddenly and violently loses its freedom in turn of the century North Carolina when a group of local politicians stages the only successful coup d'etat in US history.… (más)