I had no idea what this book was about so I went in blind, as I kept seeing folks on social media say how good it was. To be honest, in the beginning I wasn’t sure this one would be for me. I diverted my attention to an eBook but kept reading this one. The more I read it, the more intrigued I became, so much so that I abandoned my eBook temporarily to finish this one. I had no idea, until the end, that this book was based on a historical time in Kentucky including none other than “book women.”
I was introduced to Cussy Mary or Bluet or “Book Woman” as
her patrons took to calling her. They called her “Book Woman” as she was one of
the Kentucky book women who went around and delivered reading materials to
those folks who lived way back in the hills of Kentucky, those so out-of-reach
places no one even knew of their existence. Bluet was also, to put it mildly, a
‘blue’ person. Not blue as in sad, but rather the color of her skin was blue.
Again, I had no idea this condition even existed, and because she was blue, she
was basically an outcast in the white world.
Bluet experienced a whole lot of sadness in her short life,
saw some pretty sad sights on her book route, and also experienced some pretty
horrific events of her own. Along comes Doc and his testing, with his own
realization about Bluet, and Bluet’s realization that she was okay being a
Blue. Bluet also experienced some happy moments in life. She was quite a
strong-willed individual and became more important to her patrons than even she
realized.
I can only imagine the research it took to develop these characters so deeply, to be able to describe what life was like during this time period, to make the reader feel like they were actually there seeing and experiencing what Bluet did. If you are big into history and like books that are accurate in their telling, this one might just be for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment