This is an interesting historical
novel. It is a story about the
blue-skinned people of Kentucky, the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, and
life in Depression-era Appalachia.
Nineteen-year-old Cussy Mary
Carter (often called Bluet) is a book woman with the Pack Horse Project,
delivering reading materials to the impoverished residents of rural eastern
Kentucky in the mid-1930s. Not only does
her job involve physical hardship and danger, she also encounters prejudice
because she suffers from methemoglobinemia which causes her to have blue
skin. Because of this inherited genetic
condition, she is considered “coloured” and experiences psychological trauma
and discrimination. She isolates herself
from most people, except her library patrons.
Cussy is a fully developed
character. She has a passion for books
and her job. Though her job is not easy,
she is determined to bring books to her patrons. Though there are threats to her safety, she
courageously continues her daily deliveries on very isolated routes. When she encounters bigotry, she remains calm
and civil. Her kind nature has her
taking time to read to people, and her generosity is obvious in her leaving food
and medicine for people, even though she herself has little. She does, however, have flaws. Some of her actions are the result of pride
and vanity, and her involvement in the hiding of a dead man makes her less than
a perfect person.
Not only do readers learn about
the Blues and pack horse librarians, they are also given an in-depth look at
life in Appalachia in the 1930s. The unremitting
poverty of the people is shown. We see
their almost daily struggles with hunger.
Because they are isolated and cannot afford the services of a doctor,
they rely on folk medicine. Much of the
dialogue is full of appropriate colloquialisms:
“’The young’uns won’t do their chores . . . Them books are doing that –
surely making them lazy. The girls are
letting the laundry an’ sewing pile up around their ears, and the boys are
reading at the creek when they ought to be fishing and working in the
garden. Plumb can’t get ‘em to work ‘cause
they’s so busy sitting and reading them foolish books you’re bent on bringing.’”
Cussy’s father is a coal miner so
there is also considerable information about the conditions men like him
endure, “working seventeen-hour days down on a rocky floor with bloody kneecaps
in a black hole for scratch, and all the while fearing the next cave-in, the
next blast that sends us to our fiery grave.”
The greediness of the mining companies is emphasized: “The Company didn’t like for the Kentucky man
to feel a dollar in his pocket, and they’d pay the miners most in Company scrip
– credit that could only be used at the company store – to make sure of just
that. If a fellar balked at having to
spend his pay there, he’d be dismissed right quick. The Company also let workers draw on their earnings
before payday, happy to give out scrip as loans with interest to keep the
families good ‘n’ indebted to them.”
Cussy’s dad attends union
meetings and she worries because “Those type of gatherings were as dangerous as
cave-ins, explosions, and the miner’s lung, and what the Company feared and
fought fiercely against. . . . [The Company would] shut the meetings down with
threats and violence, burn a miner’s house or two, or make the leader of those
talks disappear.”
As would be expected, the novel
also focuses on the power of books and reading.
Cussy’s father objects to her job but she defends it strongly: “’People are learning up there. . . . Books
are the best way to do that- . . . folks tell me the books eases their burdens,
it’s the best thing that could happen to them.’” Cussy makes scrapbooks which she lends her
patrons; those books are filled with recipes, sewing patterns and housecleaning
tips which her readers might find useful.
The joy stories bring to children is shown during her visits to a
school.
Pacing is a bit problematic. The book starts slowly so I found myself
wondering if it was going to be a plodding read. Then the ending is very abrupt; between the
two last chapters, four years pass and much is left unexplained.
The author seems to have tried to
include something for everyone. There is
a romance element but there is also violence.
Cussy’s ever-so-loyal mule provides humour, as does Cussy’s encounter
with moonshine. The reader’s emotions
are certainly aroused; parts are heartwarming but other parts are
heartbreaking. Personally, I found
myself often angry at the narrow-mindedness and injustice.
I would certainly recommend this
book to people who enjoy books about books and those who enjoy historical
fiction which is the product of extensive research. Those looking for a strong, female
protagonist will also find one here.
Note: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
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