Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I finished listening to Sharon M. Draper’s Stella by Starlight last night and I’ve been trying to think how to review it.  On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the book; Draper tells stories that keep you reading, and her main characters are eminently likable.  I also appreciated the differentiation between the Klan and the whole of the white community.  On the other hand, the menace of the Klan didn’t affect me with the impact I wanted it to, and I’m honestly not sure why.  (Certainly North Carolina isn’t the deep south, not like Alabama or Mississippi–perhaps Klan violence was less likely to escalate to a deadly level?  And it did cause significant harm, so maybe it was just me.)  What’s interesting about Stella is that a few of the things that happened to this black child and her family in the segregated south weren’t the things I thought were going to happen, but other things entirely.  Draper intimates that this book has roots in her own family history, and hey, truth is stranger than fiction, right?  At the end of the day, this was a compelling book, with touches of humor, pathos, and drama, and it’s most definitely worth your time.*

*One thing, though.  This is absolutely going to be a relatable book for today’s readers, and that’s not a bad thing; I read quite a bit of historical fiction, however, and Draper’s characters do feel a bit more like modern voices in historical settings rather than fully authentic historical figures.  This didn’t necessarily affect my enjoyment of the book, but while I was engrossed in the story, I didn’t feel submersed in the time period, if that makes sense.  It’s still worth reading, though.