Customer Reviews

Wench: A Novel

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Dolen Perkins-Valdez delivers the gripping tale of primary characters, Lizzy, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu's, lives as slave maids and mistresses during the mid-19th century. Although from separate southern plantations, the mistresses vacation with their white masters to a free-state resort in Ohio each summer, forming a sisterly bond and developing relationships with each other.

Suffering emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their "owners," the women grow weary, often dreaming of their and their children's freedom. While each of the women has a unique relationship with her respective master, Lizzy, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu share the bond of slavery and mistreatment. Despite the seeming perks each wench receives over all the other slaves at their home plantations, each woman still finds herself living in misery. This story brings readers into the heart-wrenching decisions, painstaking moments and emotional turmoil endured by each of the women as they struggle to save themselves spiritually, physically and emotionally. They walk a fine line of favor with their masters. Should the women stay, or should they run, when the opportunity is staring them right in the face?

This story is unlike any other story I've read about slave women and children. Yes, I've heard the stories and knew these type things happened but never have I been drawn into the minds of the women that have lived this life. Themes of particular interest to me while reading this story were the relationship between the master's wife, Fran, and Lizzy. Lizzy's character is also of the most interest to me in that she was quite indecisive. I understood her indecision. I felt these women's pain and suffering. I also acknowledge the author's underlying message of the possible cause and evolvement of black-on-black prejudices.

After reading this story, I am even more deeply appreciative of the women before me. They suffered tremendously and if it weren't for them I would not be living the life I am today. Any time you read a story and you feel the emotions jumping from the pages, you've got a page turner. The history behind the Tawawa House and what the land is actually used for today is also quite interesting. I would have never known had I not read this book.

Based on this novel, I would read a second offering from Ms. Perkins-Valdez.

I could not put this book down. Rarely does a book capture my attention the way Wench did. After I started reading this book I left my chores undone, ignored the work on my desk and stayed up late at night reading. I have such mixed feelings about the pleasure I took in this book because it covers a horrible topic. Yet the author took such care telling the stories of four slave women forced into sexual relationships with their master. You must not miss the stories of Lizzie, Sugar, Reenie and Mawu. They share their lives with the reader and you come to care deeply about them before the reading is done. What the white masters did to these women is terrible yet the women handle it grace and strength that I myself do not have. My only hope is that the author plans a sequel because the story is just too good to end.

Dr. Dolen Perkins-Valdez does a great job portraying the setting and the characters - providing details that bring the story to life, without being superlative. As I was reading, I shed several tears. I smiled some too - and, many times, I felt a host of mixed emotions concurrently. Perkins-Valdez does a great job of showing the complexity of humanity in her characters - allowing her readers to think about themselves in a very real manner. The novel compelled me to think about several issues in more intricate ways. The words led me to think about history and slavery, but also love and strength, in subtle yet powerful ways. I read a lot, and I have written a good deal too. I know that this much vitality in a novel is hard to find. I found Wench to be very well-done. I had a hard time putting it down. My only complaint is that I wasn't ready for it to end.

The premise of novel about slave women set in resort with this history was wonderful - the writing was just a shame. Characters black and white were poorly sketched and the author did nothing to explore the vast class system among slaves.

A favored mistress from Louisiana would have likely been French-speaking and likely well schooled in fashion and flirtation. A slave owned by a Tennessee farmer, would have had a completely different background. It would have been wonderful to see these differences explored - or at least acknowledged by the author. Instead we just get cardboard cutouts.

This is Alice Walker meets Harlequin.

For truly wonderful books that explore black culture in the same time period, read Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series for fully fleshed out and historically rich stories of slave era black Americans both male and female

I have mixed emotions about this book. Overall it was a decent read, but I was expecting a little more. I thought the characters could have been developed a little more. Reenie, Sweet, and Mawu didn't have much depth to them. The only character that I felt like I really got to know was Lizzie because she narrated most of the story and the reader was provided with more details about her life unlike the other ladies. From reading the jacket of the book, I thought there was going to be some laugh out loud moments but I didn't experience any of those. I was a little disappointed by the ending. I was left completely unsatisfied. I guess I wanted a little more closure especially with Mawu's character. The whole spirit sister thing between Lizzie and Mawu that the author threw in at the end left a little to be desired especially since it totally didn't make sense to me. I guess it was little weird to me and felt as though it was a total distraction since we never found out exactly what happened to Mawu after she was found. There were several loose ends. Why did Reenie's Master/brother give her over to the hotel manager? Was there some type of deal made? I would have liked to know. There were several others that a few of the other reviewers have already mentioned.

On the front cover of the book there's a quote by USA Today that states, "Readers entranced by The Help will be equally riveted by Wench. A deeply moving, beautifully written novel told from the heart." I'm sorry but I didn't find that to be the case. I've read The Help and enjoyed that book tremendously. Don't get me wrong, Wench was written beautifully but personally for me it's not on the same caliber as The Help. The Help had more depth to the story and the characters were flushed out a little more. I also didn't understand What Glory brought to the story other than being a guide through the woods. Read the story and judge it for yourself. Your opinion of it may be totally different:)

I want to forewarn some readers that some of the material in the book is shocking. It may be a little hard to stomach for some readers. It can get really graphic at times.

Is it possible to love a book that explores the difficult issues of slavery, violence, dehumanization, and loss? Yes! Reading this book was very timely for me. I just finished teaching a US History class in which one of my students was adamant that there were slaves and their masters who fell in love and that their masters didn't exploit them because they loved each other. I tried to explain that such a relationship would be a lot more complicated than that--that issues of power and powerlessness, of social acceptability, and so on would make things a lot more difficult than anything we could imagine in our lives today. This book portrays the master-slave relationship in a realistic and very believable way that truly took my breath away.

Wench explores the emotional and psychological complexities that slave mistresses faced during the Antebellum period in the American South. They were given favored status, sometimes their children were given special treatment by their fathers/masters, and there were probably some who even believed that they loved their masters, as main character Lizzie did. But they also occupied a position on the plantation that could be quite lonely. They didn't quite fit in with the other slaves because they received special treatment, and they were not on the same level as their white masters.

Much of this story takes place at Tawawa House, an Ohio resort where a number of slave owners vacationed with their slave mistresses (a location that actually existed). It is in this place that these women finally feel like they fit in somewhere because they can relate to each other and are able to bond based on their shared experience. But even their shared experience varies as each woman is not treated the same way by their master. Being on holiday in a free state of course brings thoughts of escape and freedom closer to the surface. And that was the second struggle the women faced--the decision of whether to run away or not. For some that decision was easy to make. For others, the decision was a difficult one, as it would mean leaving their children behind and risking their lives in the process.

Although the reader gets to know the four women and their struggles, the story mainly revolves around Lizzie and her remarkable transformation. In the beginning, she doesn't even want to consider escape because of the love she feels for her master and for her children. She hopes one day to convince him to free their children from slavery. But as time passes, she becomes disillusioned with the life she and her children are living. She sees the evils that other masters perpetrate on their slaves and she starts to wonder if she has been wrong. Eventually, she begins to consider escape, but you'll have to read the book to find out if she actually does or not.

This is an excellent book. Ms. Perkins-Valdez has done a superb job in her research. The historical period and the people portrayed in it feel authentic. The writing is beautifully descriptive. I don't know what else I can say--I liked everything about this book. I highly recommend it.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by the author to review for a virtual book tour stop at my blog.

My book club chose "Wench" as our October read. I joined a book club to be introduced to fiction I never would have picked up and "Wench" is one such book because I'm not typically interested in historical fiction. When I do read fiction, I prefer contemporary. I also prefer novels where women are more empowered and not victimized. So women as slaves don't ring my chimes. That said, "Wench" is a solid debut and I'd call it a "good read."

I'd also call it more plot-driven then character driven. That is why I was disappointed in the last section of the book (about four or five short chapters) from a plot perspective. It felt like a rushed ending to an otherwise solid first novel. I felt that one of the main characters, Lizzie, took a big leap - in terms of her attitude - when that shift had not yet been adequately foreshadowed by the author. I think the book would have been better-served if the author had taken more time with the character/behavioral arc of Lizzie in particularly.

Also, I sensed a shift in the writing, too in the last section of the book (the book is divided into four chrono sections). Specifically, the author has a clean yet lyrical style and the last few chapters almost felt "draft-like." It did not have the same poetry as the rest of the book. Perhaps a publisher was breathing down her back to "get it done" and "meet the deadline." It was almost as if I had picked up a different book by a different author but the dust jacket had "Wench" on it.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a solid writer who knows her craft. I'd like her to take some time and really milk that craft in a way that I think she is more than ably capable of. But a great start to a writing career.

This is a book with a compelling viewpoint - slave women taken to an annual summer hot-springs resort with their masters, and the relationships that are explored. It is a great story, for which I would gladly have given 5 stars - out of respect for the subject matter alone - but for the weaknesses of the story line.

The book is so sloppily written, in certain segments, that it is a distraction - full of unexplained occurrences, oddly placed character descriptions, plot lines that seem as if the author was thinking things up as she went along, without regard for congruity in certain areas. I half expected to see misspellings, but I supposed the spell check took care of that.

I can't remember when I've read a book so poorly constructed, but then again, I am not one to read books of the "romance" category, so maybe this is normal in this genre.

That being said, the story itself was unique enough in approach to the historical narratives on slavery that I couldn't put my Kindle down until I finished it. The author does describe aspects of slave life in a compelling way, even with certain obvious incongruities.

Unfortunately or not, the sexual relations/assaults on the women by their masters is described with allusions common to today's sexual explicitness - unlike slave memoirs and fiction of long ago - making for a much more graphic depiction of the terror in which the slaves lived - but bordering on exploitation.

The weaknesses in the book were so obvious, that I actually looked for mention of an editor when the book ended, and to my surprise the author thanks one for her "guidance". It seems to me that she should have done less guiding and more editing. For the author knows how to tell a story - but her editor didn't do this one any justice.

When I first started WENCH, it was like trying to read a book in a foreign language.

Yes, there was slave dialect used, but that isn't what I'm talking about (the dialect did not make it difficult to read as some books set in that era do).

What I mean is that while I read each scene I had to work to actively process what I was reading -- to frame it so that I could understand it.

WENCH is artfully told, beginning in the summer of 1852. We are introduced to a group of slaves who have accompanied their masters to a resort in Ohio. Just as we get to know these characters and a bit about their masters, the next section flashes back to 1842 - 1849. Lizzie is definitely the protagonist of this novel, and this flashback addresses the most curious of the relationships -- that between Lizzie and Master Drayle. Does she really love him? Does he really love her?

The entire novel has this unexpressed theme in the background: What does the institution of slavery do to the slaves (which actually got me thinking to what the implications still are 150 years later) -- their feelings about white people and themselves, their motivation, their entrapment?

The next two sections take place in the "present" summers of 1853 and 1854 as the slaves return to the resort.

This book has been compared to the Pulitzer Price winning The Known World. Yes, it's similar, in that fact and fiction meld seamlessly and convincingly, but I found WENCH to be a much better story -- more original, more compelling, and with more likable characters.

Content note: There is fairly explicit talk about sex, since it was a very real part of the master/slave relationships, as well as some violence (beatings). All of this is intrinsic to the story, but I know it's content that some people avoid (and might not expect in this kind of book).

Great book -- 4.5 stars

Dolen Perkins-Valdez makes a formidable debut in the tale of four women poised on the edge of slavery and freedom in Wench. Based on meticulous research, the author presents Tawawa House, which has oral history as a resort where southern slave owners brought their families during the summer months to Ohio. Using artistic license, Perkins-Valdez imagines the slave masters bringing their slave mistresses where they could openly be with them.

Lizzie believes what she and Drayle, her master, has is a love match. She has two children by him and it is her hope that he will free his children. Reenie, the oldest in the group, is resigned to a life of misuse and servitude while Sweet is docile and fragile, forever connected to her master. Then there is Mawu, fiery, wild and rebellious, she provokes the other women to dare think of freedom as a reality. For three summers these women bond in a way they cannot do on their respective plantations in Tennessee and Louisiana because they are the masters' "women."

The Northerners are appalled at the blatant mannerisms of the southern men who brazenly parade the slave women. For the women, being among free blacks and so close to freedom gives them both courage and brings on their greatest fears. Phillip, another slave of Drayle's, finds himself in love with a free woman. Glory, a Quaker and abolitionist, offers her services for escape but when Mawu plans to leave she experiences a betrayal of the worst kind and a public flogging.

The language is easy and fluid as the author paints the Ohio landscape with a wide brush of setting, a sense of place and time, and characters who stir a myriad of emotions in the reader. Slavery is a harsh life and freedom, no matter how elusive, may be the desired outcome. However, the dynamics are not always black and white and I found myself cautioning against judgment. Does one dare chance freedom and leave your children behind? Will a man who claims to love you grant his children freedom? Perkins- Valdez, a professor of writing and post doctoral fellow, has written another chapter of slave history that is accessible and not muddled in social commentary and controversy. I recommend to those who enjoy historical fiction and slave era novels.

Dera R. Williams
APOOO BookClub