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Product Description
Quill & Quire
Saskatchewan-born Kathleen Grissom’s debut novel is a forthright, albeit overwrought, look at plantation life before the American Civil War. It focuses primarily on the women who lived through it, both up in the big house and in the shacks down below. Their joys, struggles, and heartbreaks are embodied in Lavinia, a seven-year-old Irish orphan brought home by Captain James Pyke, the owner of a tobacco plantation.
Though she is white, Lavinia is indentured to the family. She works alongside the slaves Mama Mae, Papa George, Belle (the captain’s illegitimate daughter), and a slew of children in the kitchen house, which is a place of privilege on the plantation. The slaves – a motley family unit themselves – dust, nurse, and cook for the Pykes in exchange for their relatively comfortable accommodations and other luxuries, like shoes. Inevitably, Lavinia realizes that, as a white girl, she must conform to a certain caste, one that doesn’t include her newfound black “family.”
The novel spans 19 years, during which Lavinia’s experience mirrors that of the slaves in the kitchen house but contains an additional level: as a white orphan, she is an outsider according to both the haves and the have-nots. Grissom creates parallels between many of the novel’s female characters, emphasizing that each one – even the mistress of the house – is subjugated in some way. Sex (usually in the form of rape) unifies the women and illustrates their powerlessness. This is an obvious device, but one that Grissom uses delicately to build and rebuild sisterly bonds among her female characters.
Unfortunately, the rest of the plot does not have the same nuance. Grissom has a penchant for manufacturing tragedy after tragedy to move the story forward. After the first 100 pages, the phrase “Go get Mama” loses its gut-wrenching punch.
Though there are several compelling insights in The Kitchen House, it’s nevertheless a formulaic story. There are graphic shocks, but no surprises. Grissom has clearly done extensive research into plantation life, but the cruelty and injustice of slavery is never really spoken of except in very conventional terms. Ignoring the brutal reality of slavery is, ultimately, what differentiates this novel from its betters.
Review
--Robert Morgan, Bestselling author of the Oprah Book Club selection Gap Creek
"Kathleen Grissom peers into the plantation romance through the eyes of a white indentured servant inhabiting the limbo land between slavery and freedom, providing a tale that provokes new empathy for all working and longing in The Kitchen House."
--Alice Randall, Author of The Wind Done Gone and Rebel Yell
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Most helpful customer reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my top reads this year,
By
This review is from: The Kitchen House: A Novel (Paperback)
Every so often a book just reaches out and grabs you. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom was one of those books for me.It's 1791. Lavinia is 7 yrs old and her entire family has perished on the boat from Ireland to America. The captain takes her to his own plantation as an indentured servant. She is sent to live with the slaves who run the kitchen house. Abinia, as she comes to be known, is welcomed into the hearts and homes of Mama Mae, her daughter Belle (who is the captain's illegitimate daughter) and their extended families. They love her as one of their own, despite the fact that she is white. As Lavinia grows, she is taken to the big house to help with the captain's wife, who is battling an addiction to opium. It is here that Lavinia finally has to acknowledge the chasm between black and white, master and slave. And where her place is. As she grows older, circumstances conspire and she is forced to make difficult choices that have grievous repercussions. This is s a very bare bones synopsis as there is so much more to this book. Grissom forced me to break one of my cardinal rules. I never, ever, read ahead in a book. I got so caught up in the story, the characters and the hurtling plot that I was reading way too fast to take it all in. I had to find out what happened, then go back and slowly take the journey to the event. Grissom's descriptions of the settings, social life, characters and dialogue truly had them jumping off the page. Indeed, Grissom herself says that "For the most part, Lavinia and Belle dictated the story to me. From the beginning it became quite clear that if I tried to embellish or change their story, their narration would stop." I became invested in each and every character, loving some and hating others, but each evoking emotion is this reader. The Kitchen House is told in alternating chapters from Lavinia and Belle's viewpoints The same event takes on very different hues when seen through another set of eyes. Slavery is a main theme of the book. But slavery in many different forms - addictions, societal expectations and mores as well as racial. But so is strength, again in many forms. I literally could not put The Kitchen House down. It's destined to be a keeper in my library.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant story!,
By
This review is from: The Kitchen House: A Novel (Paperback)
The Kitchen House was an absolutely wonderful reading experience.What I liked best about this book were the characters. They became people I wanted to know. When something good happened I was happy for them and sad when a not-so-great event occurred. The author made fictional characters seem so real that they jumped off the page. More than once I was brought to tears and felt real sympathy for these people. Most of the characters were complex personalities dealing with complex problems. Though the main antagonist (and it could be argued just who the main antagonist is) is not likeable, the character was written with sympathy and while I did not excuse his behavior, I could easily understand the reasons behind his conduct. The other great thing about The Kitchen House was the plot. My heart was pounding after reading the first page. I didn't know exactly what was going on but the small bit that I read gave me a powerful sense of fear, anxiety and curiosity. From there on, the story developed into the drama, hardship and joy a close-knit family experiences in the slave quarters of a large plantation. The story moved quickly and I was so engrossed I couldn't believe it when it ended. I still want to spend time with these people! I loved The Kitchen House and wholeheartedly recommend it for book clubs - I think it would generate very lively discussions.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
MY FIRST "TOP" READ OF 2011!!!!,
By
This review is from: The Kitchen House: A Novel (Paperback)
It is 1791 and Lavinia McCarten only remembers being handed from a white man to a black man and hearing instructions to: "Give her to Belle. She's hers for the kitchen" and looking up to see a huge clapboard house that was painted white and had an enormous porch framing the entire length of the front of the house. Belle worked in the kitchen house as a cook for the Pyke family.Lavinia, almost seven-years-old had been taken from a ship coming from Ireland after her parents both died and her brother, Cardigan, was sold. She was a frail girl who vomited up all food and liquid she was fed but with Belle's persistence Lavinia was soon eating and feeling well. Now living on a large tobacco plantation she grows up part of the black slave families. Mama Mae, Belle, Ben, Pappa, Dory, Fanny, Beattie and a whole slew of other characters who all take her under their wing and come to love her as if she was their own. The call her Abinia and the black children become her brother's and sister's. Captain Pyke and his wife have two children themselves, four-year-old Sally and eleven-year-old Marshall who Lavinia will someday get to know better than she had ever anticipated. One day all the children are playing and Marshall being a rather outspoken boy with a nasty, violent streak pushes his sister Sally too hard on the swing and she ends up dying! Of course Marshall blamed Ben, one of the black slaves and he was about to be hung until Belle pleaded with Marshall to tell the truth that he had in fact pushed Sally off the swing. Marshall was silent own defense and only with Belle's pleading that they were going to kill Ben did Lavinia blurt out that Marshall had done it. As the story goes on it alternates being told both by Lavinia and Belle which was an awesome way to tell this particular story and important for reasons you'll see when you've read the book yourself. Marshall becomes a more and more sinister and violent young man who grows into an even more abhorrent adult and the troubles Lavinia suffers through as well as all the black slaves, derives from or through Marshall. The violence, the action, the drama, the fast pace will keep you glued to the edge of your seat. I read and read and read and read late into each night for two nights until I'd finished and then was sorry I read it so quickly. This is one novel I hope and pray the ghosts of the past pester Ms. Grissom to pen a sequel. Excellent, excellent debut novel! Standing ovation for sure, DON'T MISS THIS ONE!
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