This is the story of two families in rural North Carolina, we see their lives through several decades. Both families have challenging socioeconomic circumstances, they’ve dealt with violence, substance abuse and criminal activity. Their lives crash when the local schools integrate and we see one family who is white passing and one who is definitively Black and how the integration impacts them. The chapters alternate characters and time points so it’s a bit challenging to get your head around it all but it does come together nicely.
Coster gives us some heartbreaking characters akin to those in The Love Songs of WEB du Bois. All of the characters have had serious hardships and have done their best to survive. Some of them are functioning at just that level, not able to thrive while others desparately are trying to be something or someone else. We get varying arcs of self acceptance and family acceptance. Certainly not the easiest read but well worth it.
I love the soothing cover of this one, what attracts you most to a cover?
openmypages 