Have No Shame by Melissa Foster
Publisher: 304
Pages: World Literary Press
Format: eARC
Buy the Book: Amazon
Goodreads: Alison has called Forrest Town, Arkansas home for the past eighteen years. Her mother’s Blue Bonnet meetings, her father toiling night and day on the family farm, and the division of life between the whites and the blacks are all Alison knows. The winter of 1967, just a few months before marrying her high school sweetheart, Alison finds the body of a black man floating in the river, and she begins to view her existence with new perspective. The oppression and hate of the south, the ugliness she once was able to avert her eyes from, now demands her attention.
When a secretive friendship with a young black man takes an unexpected romantic turn, Alison is forced to choose between her predetermined future, and the dangerous path that her heart yearns for.
Kritters Thoughts: Have you ever wondered what took place in small towns when the civil rights movement was still in progress? Through the eyes of a young woman who didn't see the problems arising around her with a few experiences, her viewpoint changes and you watch her watch the up rise of the civil rights movement in small town Arkansas.
I have read a few books that took place at this time in our nation's history, but the small town feel of this book made it more intimate. I grew up in a small town, so I spent the entire book wondering how my small town in southern Virginia was at this time in history. The transformation of Alison felt real and her entire family felt like a real picture of some families in the south as they were trying to adopt a new way of life.
The inclusion of Jackson's chapter at the end was a perfect way to give closure and a little piece of his side of the story. I almost wish he had a few more chapters throughout, I liked his take on the way things were and the hope for the future. A wonderfully honest portrayal of a time in history that we wish to forget, but maybe in light of a few recent happenings, we should remember this time when some American's didn't feel their full freedom and liberties.
Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel
Ebook 2013 Challenge: 29 out of 50
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I live in Las Vegas and I always wonder what things were like in the old days, whether as recently as the 60s or as far back as when Nevada became a state in the 1860s. It would be interesting to study that history.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I found your blog through the BookSparks PR summer reading event.