A Diamond in the Rough

After a trip to Abilene, my kids found this book and chuckled when they gave it to me, wondering if it would stand up to the rigors of my post-reading critique. My copy is an ARC, with cover art that looked very amateurish to me. Let's just say that faced with this, my expectations were quite low. Nevertheless, this author can write! I was drawn in to the three intertwining stories of the female protagonists, two women and an adolescent girl. The stories held up, the plot moved along, and I would most definitely read another book by author Dare DeLano. I would, however, recommend a new cover design.

Ominous

This author's wise and unbiased research into the happenings of Charlottesville and the January 6 riot are impressive. That a team would so gallantly take on the task of analyzing both of those horrible events, piece by piece, to discover where things went wrong, is admirable and gives one hope. That is, until you realize that sometimes those in power are not in search of ways to thwart wrongdoing, but rather the ones perpetrating it.

An Amazing Chronicle

How someone with his hurdles had the fortitude to persevere and do what he needed to be free--secretly attain literacy, escape slavery and gain an international following--speaks to his genius. Yes, he had his grandiose moments, but wouldn't one require that, to achieve what he did? His scathing indictment of the United States' version of Christianity is completely apropos today, as is the gut-wrenching poem, "A Parody", at the end of the book.