Book Review: Ruth's Journey: the Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind by Daniel McCaig

Ruth's Journey: the Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind by Daniel McCaig

Published by: Atria Books

Published on: October 14, 2014

Page Count: 384

Genre: Historical fiction

My Reading Format: ARC ebook for Kindle provided by NetGalley

Available Formats: Hardcover, Kindle ebook, Audible book

My Review:

This is the life story of Ruth, better known as Mammy, in Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. We are first introduced to Ruth when she is a small child in Saint Domingue (modern-day Haiti) during the unrest of the 1820s. Ruth is owned by Solange Escarlette Fornier, the wife of a weathly planter and army captain named Augustin. Like her granddaughter Scarlett is described, Solange is not beautiful but is green-eyed and striking. She longs for the exciting life she left behind in Normandy. Ruth comes into Solange's possession and is an agreeable and self-sufficient child. The three leave for Savannah and Augustin joins the American army. Soon they are immersed in the social life of this busy, diverse city, and Solange is determined to improve the family's social status. 


I liked all the similarities between Solange and Scarlett. It was fun to get to know Scarlett's grandmother and much more about her past. I liked learning about Ruth's life outside of her time with the three generations of Scarlett's family. Getting a window in on her own personal journeys and heartaches was interesting and made her a more well-rounded character to me across both novels. I also particularly liked getting the back story on on how Scarlett's parents, Gerald and Ellen end up together. 

The narrative point of view changes mid-way through the novel. It begins in the third person, giving us an objective perspective on Solange, Augustin and Ruth. However, Ruth becomes first person narrator later in the book. I enjoyed the well-written, authentic voice of Ruth as an adult and all her opinions on the bustling O'Hara household. I wish McCaig would have told the story in Ruth's voice all along. I think I would have enjoyed Ruth's childlike observations of Solange and the events of her life. The first part of the book would have seemed more personal, and readers would feel, I think, closer to her innermost thoughts and feelings by hearing them from her first-hand. The two points of view are a little jarring. Ruth's first person account is authentic while the third person feels aloof and removed from the action. However, the first time Ruth sounds like the Mammy from Gone With the Wind is more than halfway through the novel. I wish she would have found her voice earlier. 

Also, this isn't just the story of Mammy. Much of the book turns away from Mammy in favor of Solange, enough to make me wonder when we were going to get back on track. In fact, Ruth disappears from the story for a time and we know not as much as I'd like to about where she is and what she's doing. It's during this time that Solange takes center stage. When Ruth comes back, her dialect is different, perhaps because she is an older, more self-assured woman, but it was hard to make sense of.

Don't go into this with false expectations, but do enjoy it for its perspective from one of the novel's most powerful characters. Authorized or not, Gone With the Wind is a tough act to follow. I'm not sure any writer, no matter how talented, will ever be able to write the perfect sequel or prequel to this book. That said, I liked some parts of McCaig's book, while other parts of it didn't quite come together.

Two and a half stars out of five

If you liked this book, you’ll like Rhett Butler's People by Daniel McCaig and (obviously!) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Recent Read: Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton

For a variety of reasons, I've been really intrigued lately by Abraham Lincoln, and I've read several books about the wives of famous men. A friend loaned me a copy of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton and I breezed right through it over the July 4 weekend when it wouldn't stop raining in Atlanta. It was a fascinating read. A lot of what's in it sounded somewhat familiar from the recent historical fiction book I reviewed called Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, which was about Elizabeth Keckly, Mary Lincoln's dressmaker and assistant who turned out to be one of her only friends near the end of Mary Lincoln's life.

Even so, there was plenty I learned about Mary Lincoln by reading this book that were just too interesting not to share. For one, it sounds like the First Lady was a bit difficult to handle throughout her life. She had a mind of her own as a child and continued to do things the way she wanted for the rest of her life. That meant advising her husband on politics in a way that wasn't done (or at least done more privately). A Kentucky native and an Illinois resident for much of her life, Mrs. Lincoln continued to keep one foot, so to speak, in the South and one in the North for all her days. She had family members who served on both sides of the Civil War, and had to do quite a balancing act while her husband was president. I think most of all, two things bothered me about Mrs. Lincoln's life after her husband's assassination: her mental illness (real or supposed) and her financial troubles.

I can't imagine what it would be like to deal with the kind and amount of loss Mary Lincoln experienced in her lifetime: her mother at a young age, three of her four sons and her husband, the president, right before her eyes (well, she was shoved out of the room and missed being by him as he passed). No one can take that kind of loss without being changed in some way. Her changes, though, just made me sad. It seems like she was a lot for her remaining son Robert to handle. His solution was, at times, to have his mother live with him and his new wife, have her kept at a mental institution and to manage her finances the best he could (I'm not saying his choices were right or wrong. I'm sure he did what he felt was best.). It also sounds like Mrs. Lincoln was a compulsive spender. Even when she knew she couldn't afford it, she shopped and spent money lavishly, owed her creditors tons of money and continued to spend further. 

This book was very well written. It reads more like a novel than a dry biography; I liked Clinton's writing style. I learned a lot and still want to know more about the Lincolns. What a truly interesting couple.

If you want to review what I've read and written about the Lincolns previously, here are a couple posts to check out:

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini
Lincoln, Inc.: Selling the Sixteenth President in Contemporary America by Jackie Hogan 
John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave by W. C. Jameson

Book review: John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave by W. C. Jameson - See more at: http://betsyrm.blogspot.com/#sthash.uuzCA08v.dpuf

Book review: John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave by W. C. Jameson - See more at: http://betsyrm.blogspot.com/#sthash.uuzCA08v.dpuf

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini

Book review: John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave by W. C. Jameson

John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave by W. C. Jameson

Published by: Taylor Trade Publishing

Published on: July 16, 2013

Page Count: 208

Genre: historical nonfiction

My Reading Format: ARC for Kindle provided by NetGalley

Available Formats: Hardcover

My Review:

Suppose that John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, wasn't shot either by himself or by a federal investigator when caught in a barn on a Virginia farm 11 days after the president was shot. Suppose someone was in place to act as Booth and the real Booth escaped, living and traveling both internationally and in the United States until his death decades later. Did conspirators fool federal investigators, or was the whole thing a set-up and cover-up? These are the questions explored in Jameson's John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave. Jameson, a descendant of Booth himself, took family lore and his own research and turned it into a good case for why the man thought to be Booth wasn't him after all. The book moves through three main parts exploring Booth's background and the planning he and others underwent to first kidnap, then assassinate the president; the generally accepted history book version of the events before, during and after the assassination and the inconsistencies in the official version; and what Jameson believes actually and most likely happened.

The background information is appreciated, and it was also helpful that the book includes the version of what we've all learned before delving into that version's many holes. While very interesting and certainly makes the reader consider all that may have been at work to assassinate Lincoln and help the assassin escape, it will be hard for the average reader (or even the above average reader) to keep it all straight. Many of those involved in the scheme had several aliases, which are used interchangeably throughout the book. Even without all the extra names to remember, there were many people involved. While neither of these things are the author's fault, a glossary at the beginning or end of the book listing each person, their aliases and their part in the assassination plot or investigation would have been tremendously helpful.

Though Jameson's writing style involves short sentences that stick strictly with the facts and only as much description as absolutely necessary (this isn't my favorite kind of writing to read), he's put together an interesting case that certainly will make you wonder. If you like conspiracy theories, Lincoln lore or Civil War-era history, you'll probably like this book.
 

Two and a half out of five stars

Book Review: Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall

Blue Asylumby Kathy Hepinstall

Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published on: April 10, 2012

Page Count: 288

Genre: Adult historical fiction

My Reading Format: Advanced Reading Copy for Kindle from NetGalley

Available Formats: Hardcover and Adobe Reader for ebook

 

Note: This is my second recent review about a female main character who bravely stands firm in her beliefs, which are way ahead of the time in which she lives. Clara in Clara and Mr. Tiffany and Iris in Blue Asylum are the kind of characters I really enjoy reading about.

My Review:


Iris Dunleavy made the mistake of marrying the wrong man. Her husband, Robert, a powerful Virginia plantation owner, assumes he can own his wife much in the same way he owns his slaves. When Iris objects to Robert's treatment of his slaves, she knows she has crossed the line but doesn't change her mind. When Iris discovers one of his dark secrets, Iris joins several slaves in running away. She's caught, put on trial and deemed insane by the judge. Then Robert ships her off to an insane asylum on Sanibel Island. Here she meets an interesting cast of characters: Wendell, the head doctor's young son who becomes a friend and confidant; Ambrose, a Confederate soldier suffering from the atrocities he's seen; and Dr. Cowell, the man in charge who is in charge of each patient's therapy, treatment, recovery, and ultimately, their destiny. As Iris changes hands from one overbearing man to another, she continues to test the limits set before her. Iris causes Dr. Cowell to admit to himself that all the notions he'd deemed true about women, insanity and everything else in his life may not be accurate. Dr. Cowell also comes to realize that by immersing himself in the care of his patients, he has neglected his wife and son.

Hepinstall conveys the frustration Iris feels at being locked away as prisoner, first to her husband, and second to a doctor who Iris feels has misdiagnosed her. In chapter three, Iris says, "I do not belong here. I am here simply for the act of defying my husband, who is a man of most indecent character," while Dr. Cowell maintains that "women...became unhappier the better they were treated" (Chapter 8). Iris knows all along that she's been put in the wrong place and her entire being becomes focused on how to escape from it. 

As Iris and Ambrose embark upon a dangerous journey together, they are running away from their past, hoping that those lives don't continue to haunt them. The book leaves readers questioning the choices Iris has made: whether they were the right ones, or whether the choices she made were the only ones she had.


This book causes readers to think about what constitutes mental instability and where the line should be drawn for people to make their own decisions about their destiny, and the amount of control one human should have over another. It's a beautifully described story, and the plot takes readers to some unexpected places.

Four stars out of five

The Widow of the South

I've gotten really interested in the Civil War since this year marks the 150th anniversary of its beginning. I've done some reading on it, and recently read a book one of my husband's relatives sent me about a battle that took place near where she lives. The book is The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. It's a historical fiction novel about a woman whose plantation home was commandeered to be a hospital for Confederate soldiers wounded in the Battle of Franklin in Middle Tennessee. It was a fascinating story, and I enjoyed it even more knowing there is truth behind it. I'm now hoping I can sometime make a visit to Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN, to see the home and the massive cemetery on the grounds there. To find out more, visit the website for the plantation and/or the book.