Review: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

by Kim Michele Richardson

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Pages: 308

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

Kritters Thoughts:  A book that I only heard about due to a bit of controversy, but I am glad that I read it fully to compare and contrast against what everyone was saying.  I will not compare this book to another in this review, but will say it was interesting to read this against the other.  

It is 1936 in rural Kentucky and Cussy Carter is a pack house librarian.  She spends her days delivering books to the outskirts of Appalachian and visiting with different families.  She is unique herself as she is the last living female of the "Blue People" lineage.  

Most of the plot of this story revolved around her being blue and how that impacted her daily life.  The people in her town defined a blue person as a "colored person" and this whole plot line made me do a few google searches and learn about the lineage and family and how they were treated throughout the years.  I felt as though the book focused on this more than the idea of the pack horse library.

There were some sweet moments as Cussy visited her "neighbors" and delivered books and I loved those, but the logistics of the library were sort of glossed over and didn't get as much attention.  

I liked this book, but didn't love it.  I felt as though it was placed in a historical time and place, but it didn't feel rooted there.   


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  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.