Review of Sister B
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Emily Campbell 6
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Review of Sister B
[Following is a volunteer review of "Sister B" by David Charles Hart.]
Sister B by David Charles Hart is a heartfelt and deeply researched account of his mother’s life. Willie Mae Young Hart, also known as Sister B by her family and friends, was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1915. Growing up in the Deep South was difficult for her and her ancestors, to say the least. Her youth was fraught with difficulties and discrimination. The author takes time to describe in the beginning of the book a couple of incidents relating to black men that illustrate the point; black people are avidly discriminated against in all areas of society. For this reason, and especially to save the life of her young son, Sister B relocates to Los Angeles and finally to Portland, Oregon. Hart’s account of her life is augmented by the accounts of a number of other individuals, most importantly the account of Akio Hashimoto. Hashimoto is a Japanese professional photographer and we follow along on his life story running parallel to Sister B’s in the U.S.
Hart has written a fascinating book about his mother’s life story. Her life was filled with moments of historic proportion. It was truly humbling to read his mother’s account of struggling to succeed in a society built to keep her downtrodden. It was also refreshing to read the point of view of a Japanese individual at this time in history. Hart perfectly captured Hashimoto’s deep love of country, along with his greatly empathetic personality regarding people on the other side of the conflict in World War II. While it may very well be impossible, I believe the perfect audience for this book would be those in the U.S. (and elsewhere) who still harbor discriminatory views. I have known many people in the course of my life who would benefit from taking a moment to step into another’s shoes. For them to truly listen to a minority’s point of view would be a great benefit to all.
The major negative that stood out to me during the reading was that Sister B doesn’t read as an historical fiction novel. So many precise historical details are included throughout that it took my attention away from the story itself. My preference would be for this book to have been written either as a novel or a separate non-fiction book regarding the Civil Rights movement of the time. In my opinion, this author’s skill set lies in non-fiction writing. Hart has obviously done an immense amount of research regarding the historical details from 1936 to 1963 as they relate to the political and social environment both in the U.S. and Japan.
Taking into consideration all of the positives and negatives regarding Sister B, I am rating this book a 3 out of 5 stars.
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Sister B
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Sister B by David Charles Hart is a heartfelt and deeply researched account of his mother’s life. Willie Mae Young Hart, also known as Sister B by her family and friends, was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1915. Growing up in the Deep South was difficult for her and her ancestors, to say the least. Her youth was fraught with difficulties and discrimination. The author takes time to describe in the beginning of the book a couple of incidents relating to black men that illustrate the point; black people are avidly discriminated against in all areas of society. For this reason, and especially to save the life of her young son, Sister B relocates to Los Angeles and finally to Portland, Oregon. Hart’s account of her life is augmented by the accounts of a number of other individuals, most importantly the account of Akio Hashimoto. Hashimoto is a Japanese professional photographer and we follow along on his life story running parallel to Sister B’s in the U.S.
Hart has written a fascinating book about his mother’s life story. Her life was filled with moments of historic proportion. It was truly humbling to read his mother’s account of struggling to succeed in a society built to keep her downtrodden. It was also refreshing to read the point of view of a Japanese individual at this time in history. Hart perfectly captured Hashimoto’s deep love of country, along with his greatly empathetic personality regarding people on the other side of the conflict in World War II. While it may very well be impossible, I believe the perfect audience for this book would be those in the U.S. (and elsewhere) who still harbor discriminatory views. I have known many people in the course of my life who would benefit from taking a moment to step into another’s shoes. For them to truly listen to a minority’s point of view would be a great benefit to all.
The major negative that stood out to me during the reading was that Sister B doesn’t read as an historical fiction novel. So many precise historical details are included throughout that it took my attention away from the story itself. My preference would be for this book to have been written either as a novel or a separate non-fiction book regarding the Civil Rights movement of the time. In my opinion, this author’s skill set lies in non-fiction writing. Hart has obviously done an immense amount of research regarding the historical details from 1936 to 1963 as they relate to the political and social environment both in the U.S. and Japan.
Taking into consideration all of the positives and negatives regarding Sister B, I am rating this book a 3 out of 5 stars.
******
Sister B
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: In the Heart of the Linden Wood by Ekta R. Garg
