Customer Reviews

The Price of a Child

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In _The Price of a Child: A Novel_, author, Lorene Cary, provides a narrative account of the legacy of people who have been torn away from their families on one continent and enslaved in another. _The Price of a Child_ is about the price of human dignity for all, the descendants of both the enslaved and their captors.

Ginnie Pryor escapes from her owner, with two of her three children, while traveling in one of the northern "free" states, only to find that neither her African nor her European compatriots are free from the legacies of slavery. In this story the former slave establishes intimate relationships within the Quick family as she tries to discover the meaning of freedom and her own identity. The historical setting, the poignant theme of her missing child and Ginnie's provocative presentations to nineteenth century abolitionists provide a background for exploring realities about race relations in past and present centuries. This book has messages that endure long after the last page. It is a good foundation for many discussions about the legacies of racism that need to be addressed.

This book had me hooked by the 10th page. Knowing that this is based on a true story makes it really pop out. This is a story everybody should read. Open your eyes and join a new world.

With her novelization of the life of a freewoman who made the terrible choice to leave one of her children behind in claiming freedom for herself and two other children, Lorene Cary takes us into a vivid land of history and humanity in pre-war Philadelphia. As a modern novel, <em>Price</em> is not only accessible, it provides engaging characters and a resonant story.

First and foremost, <em>Price</em> is the tale of Virginia (Ginnie), now named Mercer Gray, and her transition from slavery to vigilant freedom. Cary takes Mercer through a very human path, with attempts to reconcile her desires for freedom, self-sufficiency and some kind of comfort or security, with the costs of that freedom and her duty to both those that have helped her and the price that she paid for her freedom. The Quick family, a multigenerational mesh of survivors and hangers on, gives a rich field for Mercer to grow in.

<em>Price</em> stands as complement to the slavery-era narratives from which it draws. Written in a more modern English, and with the liberty to have been crafted for drama as well as truth, <em>Price</em> could very easily serve as an introduction to a genre of historical literature that can be daunting for both its content and language. Cary also has the liberty to go further into the awkward or accusatory truths that free black people of the era may have often self-censored for fear of alienating their supporters.

Chosen as the key book for the One Book, One Philadelphia project, Cary's work has the kind of Easter Eggs familiar to those who personally know where a book is set. Cary's early years and childhood in Philadelphia, and current residence here, provide another tie for the city to give back some Love.

Overall an excellent book.

this one was pretty good. I always support fellow Quaker's in their writing endeavors hence the purchase. Lorene gives this character depth and a sense of humor if you can believe that...

This is a quick read but worth it.

This is a fascinating read. It's great to learn about a different time and enjoy the pleasure of the story.

This book is fantastic. I highly recommend it as required reading for all junior high/high school American students!

I found this book impossible to get into. I was told it gets clearer and more interesting so I skipped to page 100 and still found it the same. There seems to be no story that moves the reader in a straight line. Very confusing and boring.

This revisionist novel is best described as "Beloved"-lite. It is yet another politically-correct attempt to diminish the importance of Whites in the abolitionist movement and present Blacks as the only real authors of their liberation. The book describes White abolitionists as childish old maids whose sentiments are fueled by the desire to draw cheap Black labor up from the South. These silly and ignorant people are educated, with difficulty, by stern and courageous Blacks who observe White pretensions with a knowing sense of humor.

The book begins with a lurid depiction of the heroine, the proud and beautiful Mercer, in stereotypically helpless sexual bondage to her male slavemaster. All Whites in the novel are stereotypes or ciphers. After using prurience as a hook to get the novel underway the author later criticizes White abolitionists for objectifying her heroine! Likewise, after asserting that Whites are meanly stereotyping Blacks, the author uses stereotypes to ridicule 19th century White religious women. After presenting Whites as consistently venal, ignorant, and prejudiced the author has her heroine address the question of why there are bad Blacks: It is all the fault of slavery, Mercer solemnly explains. This comes after the author has ridiculed humorous depictions of Black dialect in contemporary popular culture and characterized it as rascist, but then, apparently realizing that her uneducated Southern heroine speaks idiomatically perfect English, Mercer begins prefacing her orotund speeches with a few y'alls.

I can't help but feel amazed that this biased nonsense has been favorably reviewed, let alone selected as 'Philadelphia's One Book.' Nevertheless from a deeply cynical perspective it may indeed be unintentionally representative of the city's self-idea. The book is worth examining as an example of unconsciously racist discourse intended to benefit its presenters by working an ethnic political bloc with tales of their victimization and unappreciated superiority. Perhaps that IS the price of a child! It's a price that has cost Philadelphia dearly.

Unfortunately I found this book quite boring and untrue to the claim that it focused on pre-Civil War Philadelphia. Less than half of the book was actually set in the city. When the protagonist went on her speech tour near the end of the story, I honestly could not keep my eyes open to read the words. All of the historical backround seemed forced. Looking back, I don't even know where the climax of the book is (if there is one.)The only redeeming part of the story is the ending, which takes way to much time and energy to reach. Overall, this book was an exreme disappointment.

Well, I stopped at page 75. I read a Toni Morrison book several years ago and wasn't impressed, and this book reminded me of that. I just have the feeling that I wasn't "getting" it. It's just not my type of book, I guess. Maybe it gets better after page 75? I just don't want to spend the time to find out.