always in fun

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Monday, 7 November 2011

American Historical Fiction Award for~"The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" by Ann Weisgarber

Posted on 06:10 by john mycal
Published by:  Penguin Books
Pages:  321



Praised by Alice Walker and many other bestselling writers, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree is an award-winning debut novel with incredible heart about life on the prairie as it's rarely been seen. Reminiscent of The Color Purple, as well as the frontier novels of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Willa Cather, it opens a window on the little-known history of African American homesteaders and gives voice to an extraordinary heroine who embodies the spirit that built America.



The Dame's Perspective :


Rarely have I experienced a historical novel such as this one.  Ms Weisgarber has chosen to champion black women in the undeveloped and barren wilds of the Badlands, and she does it with a sensitivity that will break your heart, sparking feelings you didn't know you possessed.  "The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" is a mightily rendered novel, it left me wondering how I could have held my breath such a long time.


One thing was certain and universal throughout this book and that was the push-pull of relationship between man and woman.  So many have experienced this expectation of the "bargain" for a marriage that hinges upon love and trust often weighed heavily on the woman's side, only to feel that "hinge" rusting away over years of hardship and childbearing.  It is particularly present in this novel, handled in profound and bittersweet passages that show the anxieties of a mother's love and protective life-blood vrs. a man's drive to save his land and work.  I felt Rachel's heartaches, her loneliness at times, and her isolation in choosing to do what was the best for her children; and, ultimately, for herself. While she, too, believed in working and culling out their stretch of land, it was secondary to her children.

Rachel is a character so perfectly described and drawn that she's sure to be remembered in the vein of all great heroines.  She's the epitome of not just black (Negro) women, but the best in the feminine spirit that causes us to rise above hardship and strife to claim our rights as women of valour, and mothers who make a difference in the world. She makes us proud to be women.


That Ms Weisgarber chose this time period and these characters to write her book  shines in its originality. I believe it's a gift that will keep living in the hearts and minds of many.  Actually, I expect it will end up in the classrooms and colleges that reach for exceptional reading material of this period and of women who exempify those who made our country what it was meant to be.

"The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" makes me ashamed in a way that we haven't explored and honored black womens' contributions in opening our frontiers before this!



5 well-deserved stars



Deborah/TheBookishDame




*Happily, I want to credit:
for allowing me to read this book.

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • "Clarity" ~ YA Book
    GoodReads Summary: "When you can see things others can't, where do you look for the truth? This paranormal murder mystery will hav...
  • My Response: Wall St. Journal Bookshelf~YA Fiction "Darkness Too Visible"
    On June 4, 2011, The Wall Street Journal~Bookshelf section published an article by Meghan Cox Gurdon entitled: " Darkness Too Visible:...
  • Gene Splicing YA Fiction: "Tankborn" by Karen Sandler
    Publisher: TU Books of Lee & Low Books Inc. Pages: 384 Release Date: October 2011 Genre:  YA Fiction/Dystopian/Sy-Fy What They're Sa...
  • A Thanks to Publishers, Authors & Followers
    Because it's Thanksgiving, but actually because it gives me a good excuse to let them know, I'd like to extend my gratitude to the f...

Categories

  • abandonment
  • Adriana Trigiani
  • Alexandra Monir
  • Alicia Rasley
  • Amy Efaw
  • Andrea Cremer
  • Animals
  • Anita Shreve
  • Anjali Banerjee
  • Ann Aguirre
  • Anne Rice
  • art theft
  • art work
  • artist
  • Austen mashups
  • Author Interview
  • Author Jodi Picoult
  • Author Joyce Carol Oates
  • B.A. Chepaitis
  • backwoods
  • Beatrix Potter
  • Bernadette Pajer
  • best books of 2011
  • Beth Kephart
  • Bette Davis
  • Blair Richmond
  • Blog Related
  • Book Review
  • Books
  • Brenna Yoranoff
  • C.W. Gortner
  • Cameron Stracher
  • Cancer
  • Caragh M. O'Brien
  • Carole Waterhouse
  • Caroline Kennedy
  • cathedral
  • Cathy Mazur
  • celebrities
  • celebrity photos
  • Charlie Price
  • Chevy Stevens
  • Children's Book
  • Christmas
  • Classics
  • Classics and Mashups
  • Coffee
  • Colin Firth
  • colors
  • controlling mothers
  • cookbook
  • Cormac McCarthy
  • Cornelia Funke
  • crafts
  • Craig Stephan
  • Current Events
  • Cynthia Rogers Parks
  • D.E. Johnson
  • Daisy Goodwin
  • Daniel Woodrell
  • Danielle Trussoni
  • Darcy and Lizzy
  • Darien Gee
  • dead people
  • Deborah Lawrenson
  • Denise Mina
  • detectives
  • DL Fowler
  • Dogs
  • Duane Swierczynski
  • dying
  • dystopian
  • Elizabeth Bennett
  • Elizabeth Naughton
  • Ellie James
  • emery lee
  • Emma Thompson
  • Erin Morgenstern
  • Europe
  • family dynamics
  • fantasy
  • father abandonment
  • fears
  • Film Noir
  • forensics
  • Gail Giles
  • Galley Cat
  • Gary McMahon
  • General
  • General Fiction
  • ghosts
  • gifts
  • Giveaway
  • goodreads
  • Gothic
  • Gothic fiction
  • Greg Kiser
  • Grief
  • Hachette Publishing Group
  • hair story
  • Halloween
  • Harper Collins
  • heaven
  • Hemingway
  • Heroine
  • historical fiction
  • historical Japan
  • Hoarding
  • home and garden
  • horror
  • humor
  • illustrated book
  • indie lit awards
  • interior design
  • interview
  • Inzanesville
  • Iolanthe Woulff
  • James Feinstein
  • Jane Austen
  • Jane Rowan
  • Japanese art
  • Jewish culture
  • Jo Ann Beard
  • Joely Sue Burkhart
  • Jonathan Franzen
  • Journalism
  • Joyce Hostetter
  • Karen Russell
  • Karen Sandler
  • Karl Friedrich
  • Kate Atkinson
  • Katherine Spencer
  • Kathleen Kent
  • Kathryn Casey
  • Kathryn Stockett
  • Kathy Reichs
  • Kelly Jones
  • Kevin Henkes
  • Kim Harrington
  • knitting
  • Kristi Cook
  • L.A. Banks
  • laughter
  • Lauren DeStafano
  • Lauren Myracle
  • Leslie Esdile Banks
  • Literary Heroine
  • living dead doll
  • Lois Lowry
  • lost family
  • lost family members
  • love connections
  • Malinda Lo
  • Manet
  • Manhattan Project
  • Marcia Clark
  • margaret george
  • Maria Duenas
  • Maria Lucia
  • marriage
  • Mary Carter
  • Maryann Lin
  • Meg Mitchell Moore
  • Megan Abbot
  • Melissa Foster
  • Memoirs and Non-Fiction
  • Memoirs and Other
  • Michael David Lukas
  • Michael Koryta
  • Michelle Hoover
  • Michelle Zink
  • Midnight Dragonfly series
  • Moroccan
  • motherhood
  • Mr. Darcy
  • Mrs. Darcy
  • mystery
  • Nazi
  • New Mexico
  • New Orleans
  • News
  • NH
  • Nicole Krauss
  • Oppenheimer
  • Ozarks
  • palm reading
  • paranormal
  • Paula Brackston
  • Paula McLain
  • Pemberley
  • Penguin Group
  • Pete Hamill
  • Peter Rabbit
  • photos
  • Poetry
  • Polio
  • predators
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Provence
  • psychological novel
  • psychology
  • psychosis
  • Rachel Simon
  • Ransom Riggs
  • rape
  • Reading
  • Reading Challenge
  • recommendations
  • Regan Black
  • Regency
  • reviews
  • Richard Barager
  • Richelle Mead
  • Rick Harrison
  • Robb Forman Dew
  • Sam Hilliard
  • scary
  • Sci-Fi
  • seer
  • Sensory Processing Disorder
  • Shephardic family
  • shoes
  • short stories
  • Siddahartha Mukherjee
  • Stacy Cohen
  • Starbucks
  • steampunk
  • Steve Piacente
  • supernatural
  • Susan Beth Pfeffer
  • Suspense
  • Suspense Thrillers
  • T.K. Varenko
  • T.L. James
  • Tanya Plank
  • Tara Hudson
  • teen aged dangers
  • therapy
  • TLC Book Tours
  • Tom McNeal
  • Vampires
  • Video
  • Vietnam
  • WASPs
  • werewolves
  • women in art
  • women pilots
  • Women Writers
  • woods
  • Writing
  • WWII
  • YA fiction
  • yarns

Blog Archive

  • ▼  2011 (188)
    • ►  December (15)
    • ▼  November (19)
      • My Response: Wall St. Journal Bookshelf~YA Fiction...
      • "Sleeping with Patty Hearst" by Mary Lambeth Moore...
      • Tribute Books Publishing: Evolving into YA Market...
      • A Thanks to Publishers, Authors & Followers
      • YA Dystopian: "Divergent" by Veronica Roth Recomm...
      • Gratitude Giveaway! Come See What's Up for Thanks...
      • "Proof of Heaven" by Mary Curran Hackett ~ Heartfe...
      • The 2012 TBR Challenge~ More Information
      • You Said You'd Read Me~ So You Lied~ TBR 2012 Read...
      • "Dark Eden" by Patrick Carman ~ Your Worst Nightma...
      • "Jane Austen Made Me Do It..." Compiled by Laurel ...
      • Is Latest Trend Towards Demonology & Sexually Expl...
      • Unsurpassed YA author of "Daughter of Smoke and Bo...
      • "Between the Sea & the Sky" by Jaclyn Dolamore~ Me...
      • "Mephisto Covenant" by Trinity Faegan~Controversi...
      • American Historical Fiction Award for~"The Persona...
      • "Come Back To Me" by Melissa Foster~ Unforgettable...
      • "Cross Currents" by John Shors ~ Ko Phi Phi in Res...
      • "Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an Ameri...
    • ►  October (26)
    • ►  September (33)
    • ►  August (18)
    • ►  July (18)
    • ►  June (14)
    • ►  May (10)
    • ►  April (14)
    • ►  March (13)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ►  2010 (29)
    • ►  December (11)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (2)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

john mycal
View my complete profile