Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
293 pages
Published January 2010 by Harper Collins, now out in paperback
Source: the publisher and TLC Book Tours

In the mid-19th century there was a resort, Tawawa House, in Ohio where slave owners vacationed with their slave mistresses.  The beautiful cover of this book might lead readers to believe that this was a place where these women lived a life of leisure and pampering, quite different from their lives on the plantation.  Such was not the case.  While there was perhaps slightly more leisure time, these slaves were still expected to keep the cottages they and their masters stayed in clean, still expected to service their masters, and still beaten for any infraction.  Although Ohio was not a slave state, the slaves that journeyed to Tawawa House knew they risks for attempting to escape were nearly as great as if they tried to run away from their plantations.

In Wench, Perkins-Valdez introduces the reader to a group of slaves and their owners who regularly travel to Tawawa House in the summers.  Rennie, the oldest, is also the saddest and the most resigned to her lot in life.  Sir, her owner, is also her half brother, a man who is willing to trade her services for other pleasures.  Sweet is the youngest and pregnant when we first meet her.  Despite her pregnancy, Master does not hesitate to beat Sweet when he sees fit and because of her pregnancy and the four other children she has left on the plantation, she is least likely to make a run.  Lizze, actually loves her owner, Drayle, and believes that he will one day free their children if she just treats him the right way.

When Mawu, a red-headed, freckled slave comes into their midst one summer, she makes them all question their lives and begins to put thoughts into their heads about a different life.  Her owner, Tip, is by far the most vicious of the owners and when he finds out that Mawu is contemplating running away, he viciously beats her in front of the other slaves.  Instead of causing them to give up on their ideas of freedom, it drives the slaves to contemplate just how close they are to freedom and to question just how much they would be willing to give up to have it.

From the moment I first heard about this book, I knew I wanted to read it and the rave reviews it got only made me want to read it more.  By the time I finally did read it, I was concerned that it wouldn't be able to live up to my expectations.  Wench more than met my expectations.  Perkins-Valdez does a remarkable job in her debut of bringing these women to life and of exploring the complicated relationship between slave owners and their mistresses.  Heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time, you can't help but imagine yourself in these women's positions.  Would you be able to give up your children, risk what might happen to anyone you cared about if it meant that you could leave a life of abuse and control?

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for including me in this tour!  For more reviews of this book, see the full list of tour sites

16 comments:

  1. I want to read this too. There isn't time to read all the good books out there! ACK!!!

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  2. I am on this tour as well and will be reading the book very soon. I also am really interested in this subject and have been wanting to read this book for a really long time. I am glad to hear that it will totally live up to my expectations and I think that you wrote a wonderful and insightful review! Glad to hear you liked it so much! I can't wait to get to it!

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  3. This sounds really sad! I do want to read it though. I wonder if the idea of this resort has any historical background?

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  4. Wow! Haven't heard of this one. This one looks excellent. It's on my pile now. Great review!

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  5. I've heard lots of good things about this book, so it's on my to-read list. It sounds intense and thought-provoking. Thanks for the review.

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  6. NPR listed this one as one of the best book club picks for 2011. I printed it off since my club is meeting this week to pick our yearly list.

    Should I have any reservations about pitching it to the group?

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  7. This book sounds fascinating, troubling and inspiring. I understand your concerns that it might not live up to your expectations since you wanted to read this book for so long. It's wonderful that it more than met your expectations which further piques my interest in this book.
    Thank you for a great review and another book for my TBR list!
    ~ Amy

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  8. I'm on this tour as well (my review comes up tomorrow at http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=993).

    I also enjoyed Wench, I thought the author did a great job capturing the indignity of slavery.

    http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

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  9. I'm glad that this one met your expectations!! I'm always afraid that I will be let down too. This is one that I've marked to read at some point in my life. What a great sounding story!

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  10. I read this last year and really enjoyed it. It's great to hear that you felt the same!

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  11. I'm on this tour too- great review and I am excited to pick this up next week and start reading. I really like your blog's mix of classics and contemporary so I signed up to follow :)

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  12. I'm going to suggest this for my book group's next read. Thanks for another wonderful review!

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  13. Great review, Lisa! I'm not too far into it yet but am enjoying it. I am reading it for the tour as well and also my book club picked it.

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  14. Sarah,
    Yes it was a real place. I've been off the computer more than on lately but when I have time I want to do some research on it.

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  15. I'm with you in that I've heard so much about this book, I'm not sure it could live up to my expectations. How thrilled I was to see it lived up to your expectations though! I think that's a sign of a really good book, when you can hear a lot of praise and STILL be impressed by it.

    Thanks for being on this tour!

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  16. The relationship between Master Drayle and his lover and slave, Lizzie, defies categorizing. A myriad of emotions exists between them. While Drayle remains master and is strong in the role, a love develops between them. While Drayle may tie Lizzie up at times, he also teaches her to read and finds her sister. He refuses to free the slave children they have had together, but bestows education and other benefits not available to other slaves on them. The historical accuracy of this phenomenon in America's past is something everyone should experience and have knowledge of. From the first page until the last, you will be mesmerized by the development of the characters and the lives they experience.

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