Since I
started by blog, I’ve done an annual Advent Book Calendar highlighting books I
have enjoyed and authors I really like.
This year I thought I’d do an Advent Book Calendar with a twist; for
each day leading up to Christmas, I’m going to post a review of a book to which
I’ve given only one star (Throw a book at this one) or two stars (Don’t put this book in your book bag). Though I would not recommend these books,
others have disagreed with me. Each
book, on Goodreads, has received a 3 or 4 Star average rating.
Review of The Purchase by Linda Spalding
1
Star
This novel
appears on two 2012 award lists: the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and
the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. I’m not certain why. The reviews I’ve
read tend to be overwhelmingly positive, but I soon tired of it and struggled
to finish.
The book
begins in Pennsylvania at the end of the eighteenth century. Daniel Dickinson
and his young family are exiled from their Quaker community when, after his
wife’s death, he hastily marries a 15-year-old indentured servant girl. They
end up in south Virginia but Daniel is in no way prepared to build a new life
for his family in the wilderness. To add to his problems, he purchases a young slave
boy despite his abolitionist beliefs. This event is a catalyst for a long
series of tragic events in the lives of family members and neighbours over
multiple generations. The long-term effects of that purchase on Daniel’s
children are detailed.
A major
theme is that of freedom, specifically whether anyone really has freedom. The
black slaves are the obvious examples of people lacking freedom, but almost
everyone is enslaved somehow because of religious beliefs or prevailing
societal expectations. For example, Daniel’s Quaker pacifism leaves him unable
to defend himself and others against violent neighbours.
One of the
problems I had with the book is the character of Daniel. The motivation of much
of his behaviour is not sufficiently explained. Why, for example, does he
quickly marry Ruth when he seems to have no reason to do so, especially since
that decision results in his family being shunned and banished? Though
Daniel is an abolitionist and “his moral nature was unchanged,” at the auction
he “felt his right arm go up as if pulled by a string” when a slave boy is
being sold? Then, when his son is dying, he stops enroute to the doctor’s to
reclaim a horse? Daniel’s treatment of Ruth seems unChristian as is his
unforgiving attitude to his children, especially considering how he was treated
by his own father.
And Daniel
is not the only problem character. Mary and Bett are supposedly the best of
friends, yet Mary takes credit for Bett’s healing skills and doesn’t give her
freedom? Mary knows she needs Bett to help her with ill patients, yet she still
goes to home visits by herself when she could easily have made an excuse for
bringing Bett with her? Jemima adopts a way of life that will serve only to
alienate her from everyone, including her family?
I found the
book a harrowing read. Daniel encounters failure after failure. He betrays his
moral code, albeit inadvertently, and it seems that he is continuously punished
for his sin and so is his family. I guess I have difficulty with the Biblical
admonishment “The sins of the father shall be visited upon the sons.”
I will
continue to scan reviews to see if anyone satisfactorily addresses my concerns
and enlightens me to the merits of the book; thus far I remain unconvinced. I
am not, however, motivated to re-read the book; in fact, it is a purchase I
wish I had not made.
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