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Thursday, January 1, 2009

A book review and why I'm so late writing this!

We were invited to our neighbors house for their annual New Year's party. I was all ready to go and have a great time ringing in the new year. I made a crock-pot of meatballs for our passing dish, put on my makeup, and raced out to the truck. So every time my husband and I go out I try to call dibs on being the person that gets to drink. I wish that Matt would've beat me to the punch last night!! As soon as we got there we found out that they were waiting for us so that the drinking of Lemon Shots could commence. Me, I am a sucker!! I love Lemon Drop shots!! But I'm also quite the flyweight when it comes to alcohol. That did not matter last night. I was determined to get a good buzz no matter what. I'm a fool!! Just writing this is making my stomach queasy!!!


Take this picture and multiply it by 8!!! I think...!! At midnight I wasn't feeling too good but I managed to make it outside and watch the awesome fireworks the guys put on for all of us!! Prior to that I was rockin' the house with Rock Band on the x-box 360. It is amazing how when I get a little, LOT, drunk I really think my voice is awesome. The kids seemed to love my version of Crazy Train by Ozzy!! Then of course I had to sing Hotel California, Joker, and some other oldie stuff. By 12:40 I was sitting on the couch with my 2009 tiara and trying harder than hell not to get sick. We got home around 2:00 and I took a long, hot bubble bath, climbed into bed, and managed to sleep until about 9 a.m. When I woke up I had the mother of all headaches!! Then after downing 3 Advil I fell back to sleep until 3:30!! What a loser!! It is now 10:23 pm and I'm still not feeling that great. I really did have a fun time last night but I'm mad about losing most of the day to my wonderful hangover!! I've already told my hubby to not let me drink again next year!!! We'll see if it works or not!!



My first book review of 2009!! It took me 2 hours to finish the last 15 pages!! It was my headache holding me up, not the book!

A Mercy by Toni Morrison
From the inside book cover: in the 1680s the slave trade was still in its infancy. In the Americas, virulent religious and class divisions, prejudice and oppression were rife, providing the fertile soil in which slavery and race hatred were planted and took root.
Jacob in an Anglo-Dutch trader and adventurer, with a small holding in the harsh north. Despite his distaste for dealing in "flesh," he takes a small slave girl in part payment for a bad debt from a plantation owner in Catholic Maryland. This is Florens, "with the hands of a slave and the feet of a Portuguese lady." Florens looks for love, first from Lina, an older servant woman at ther new master's house, but later from a handsome blacksmith, an African, never enslaved.
There are other voices: Lina, whose tribe was decimated by smallpox; their mistress, Rebekka, herself a victim of religious intolerance back in England; Sorrow, a strange girl who's spent her early years at sea; and finally the devastating voice of Florens' mother. These are all men and women iniventing themselves in the wilderness.
rating: didn't like itit was okliked itreally liked it (my current rating)it was amazing
bookshelves: read, must-read-in-2009, winter-reading-challenge-2009 (edit)
status: Read in January, 2009
review: I really did enjoy this book but I found Florens voice very hard to understand. I was very thankful that Morrison did not write the book entirely from her viewpoint. This is a story about slavery, and how women's lives are hugely impacted by their owners, which were almost always men. It wasn't until the ending did I realize what a Mercy was truly about. The final chapter is Floren's mother. It helps put all the pieces of the puzzle together. The character Jacob is central to the main story as each woman's life revolves around him. He deplores slavery but finds it acceptable when he feels that he is saving someone from a miserable life. I truly loved the other voices in this book, Lina, Rebekka, and Sorrow. This is a story that will stay with me for a while as I contemplate what the conditions were for slaves being traded and sent to the colonies on ships with deplorable conditions. To know that most of them would rather jump ship and die a horrible death to the sharks is disturbing. I've never experienced such despair and lack of hope. Then to know that most all women regardless of their race were held hostage by the men in their lives. This is a very moving and powerful story.

4 comments:

  1. At least you had fun while you were drinking the shots. :-)

    I've been wondering how Toni Morrison's latest was, and here is your review! It sounds like a thought provoking novel. Thank you for the great review!

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  2. Happy New Year!! I enjoyed your review...of your New Year's Eve and I totally understand. Hope you are feeling all better today.

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  3. This sounds like a wonderful book. I'm looking forward to reading it.

    I hope you've fully recovered from your hangover! (I won't say 'cheers')

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  4. 3:30...what a loser! New Year's Eve I slept until 11:30 am and took a nap from 4:30-6-ish, had to get ready to stay up until midnight. Sounds like you had fun other than the hangover.

    Good book review too. Sounds like a good book.

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