The Kitchen House-Review by Pam B.

Finally...a good book! We had a really good turnout and discussion of The Kitchen House. This was a page turner for most of us. We couldn't wait to see what new tragedy was on the next page. Actually, was there just too much that happened in the story? Was it possible that so many horrible things could happen one after another? This was a different time in history, so does that make it feasible? This book was about the lives of slaves and one indentured servant on a Virginia tobacco plantation. Was it better to be a servant or a slave? Were servants treated better than slaves? These are just a few of the questions we pondered.

Some of the main characters...
Lavinia, a 7 year old white Irish girl, was brought to the plantation as an indentured servant. She suffered the loss of her parents and brother at this tender age. She married an abusive guy that put her through hell. She got addicted to opium. Yet, she maintained her child like innocence through all she went through. Is this humanly possible? We discussed if it was because of being put in this situation at such a young age.

Marshall was pretty much abandoned by his parents and was physically and mentally abused by the overseer most of his childhood. Did his past justify his abusive and ruthless behavior? Most of us thought that, while nothing excuses the horrible things that he did, we could certainly see where it came from.

Belle was a slave and the illegitimate daughter of the master of the plantation and became a stand in mom for Lavinia. The slaves became Lavinia's adopted family.

Mama Mae and Papa George...we all loved Mama and Papa... They pretty much ran the kitchen house and were the peacemakers.

Although we really liked the book, there were a couple of complaints that some of us had with the author's writing style. Some felt like the writing was different in the first half than in the second and that the story was a little contrived with just too much going on. Some, also felt that the ending was abruptly stopped. Does this leave it open for a sequel?...

Our average rating was 4.02 :)