Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

 

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I've got mixed feelings about Libertie. I was excited to read it and was looking for a good historical novel. It delivered in some ways, and fell flat in others. 

Libertie is about a young woman who is the daughter of a light skinned female doctor living near New York City in the mid-late 19th century. Libertie's mother often passes for white, but Libertie, on the other hand, is very dark-so much so that people comment on her skin often. Her mother's deepest wish is to have Libertie become a doctor and join in her practice. Libertie, for a long time, also believes in this dream, but as she grows older, her enthusiasm fades. 

Libertie witnesses her mother bring a man back to life after he's escape slavery by being drugged and put in a coffin. That episode leaves Ben Daisy mentally fragile, as does his inability to come to peace with his escape from slavery. 

Libertie sees first hand her mother's attempts to cure Ben--and they all fail. It sets in motion Libertie's growing awareness of her mother as a human capable of failure. Once her mother accepts white female patients, Libertie's views take another blow. These patients refuse to have Libertie touch them, and her mother doesn't stand up for her. Libertie is sent away to college to become a doctor, and there is where she finally realizes she does not want to follow in her mother's footsteps. 

This is where the book takes a shift. Libertie's college experience involves meeting The Graces, two young women who sing. Libertie befriends them, and decides music is her love, not medicine. Yet she's afraid to confess to her mother, and this leads to a big break between mother and daughter, and a life changing course for Libertie. 

This is a novel that is about relationships and the drive for freedom: freedom from slavery, freedom from society, freedom to be who you want to be. Libertie struggles to figure out not only who she wants to be, but where she wants to be. How much does the color of her skin define her choices? Will she ever be free from her mother's expectations and disappointments?

I found the first half of the novel very interesting and I dove right in; however the second half slowed considerably and took kind of a strange turn into Haiti. I got a little lost and it kind of dragged for me. But, I was still invested in Libertie's story, and while the ending may not be satisfactory for some readers, I thought it left  readers with the opportunity to finish Libertie's story for themselves. 

If you're looking for a novel big on self-reflection, relationships, and the black experience in post-Civil War America, this is for you. It is a coming of age story that will resonate with readers. 

Rating: 3/6 for a novel that examines the many ways women choose to be free. Mother-daughter relationships, marital relationships, expectations gone awry, and living with choices. 

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Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

I'm not usually one to immediately jump on the bandwagon and read a celebrity book club selection right out of the gate. However, when I saw this memoir was picked for Reese Witherspoon's book club, I thought I'd read an excerpt. I was hooked from those few paragraphs, and immediately bought the ebook for my Nook. I knew, based on bestseller lists, and my library's holdings, that any book I wanted to read regarding racial issues would be hard to come by because of demand. 

I'm still processing all that Austin had to say. I'm still thinking about all the things I say, do, and think that have a basis in racist thinking that goes so deep I'm not even aware of it. That is comes from simply being born and growing up white in middle-class Midwest America in the 1970's and 1980's. And that, I believe, is what white people struggle with-those people who want change, that is. I struggle to comprehend the enormity of the road we have ahead of us, and the road that has lead us here, today. 

Austin says many things that hit home. The struggle of just going to work every day as the only black person on a staff that promotes diversity but does anything but. That she has to keep a file on her computer of all the good emails she gets, to have her armor ready when she's called out for her "attitude" that makes others uncomfortable--when it's the others who should be called out. The worry about bringing her son into the world, and how she and her husband will explain the world to him while also bringing him up with joy and love for who he is. 

This was a powerful book to read, and I would definitely ask others to read it, as well. I am thinking, taking it all in, and yes, struggling a bit with some hard truths. And that's okay. I should be looking within and asking myself some hard questions.

While the whole memoir was an important and impactful read, I will always think of the last few pages, when Austin discusses hope. Knowing that you're in the middle of a long road, where you can't see the end. You have to keep the hope up, you have to keep fighting, even knowing you may not see the changes happen in your lifetime. You keep the fight moving for those who come after. 

This book is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook. 

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I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown