The Wedding Gift (Audible Audio Edition) Marlen Suyapa Bodden Jenna Lamia January LaVoy Macmillan Audio Books
Download As PDF : The Wedding Gift (Audible Audio Edition) Marlen Suyapa Bodden Jenna Lamia January LaVoy Macmillan Audio Books
When Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa's hand in marriage, he presents her with a wedding gift the young slave she grew up with, Sarah. Sarah is also Allen's daughter and Clarissa's sister, a product of his longtime relationship with his house slave, Emmeline. When Clarissa's husband suspects that their newborn son is illegitimate, Clarissa and Sarah are sent back to her parents, Cornelius and Theodora, in shame, setting in motion a series of events that will destroy this once-powerful family.
Told through alternating viewpoints of Sarah and Theodora Allen, Cornelius' wife, The Wedding Gift is a stunning novel that shows where the complicated and compelling bonds and relationships between women explored in novels like The Help and The Secret Life of Bees began. Marlen Suyapa Bodden's novel is an intimate portrait that shows where this particular American story and dynamic all started and will leave listeners breathless.
Includes a reading group guide read by the author.
The Wedding Gift (Audible Audio Edition) Marlen Suyapa Bodden Jenna Lamia January LaVoy Macmillan Audio Books
"The Wedding Gift" is a novel about two half-sisters - Sarah Campbell, a slave, and Clarissa Allen. It is the story of their mothers - Emmeline, a slave, and Theodora Allen, a Southern belle and wife of the plantation owner Cornelius Allen. Facially a novel about slavery and the human tragedy associated with that institution, "The Wedding Gift" is, on a deeper level, about the bondage that affected all women during the pre-Civil War period. In this book, the desires and directives of the plantation owner - Clarence Allen - controlled these women's lives, whether the women were slaves or free. Women were chattels - property to sell, purchase, wed, or arrange a marriage for - in the interest of economic gain. All the women of "The Wedding Gift" were subject to Cornelius Allen's whims and authority. Instead of a typical novel about the pre-Civil War novel South and the injustices perpetrated by plantation owners and the institution of slavery, Marlen Suyapa Bodden has given readers a thought-provoking story that compels the reader through to the novel's last, surprising revelations.Strong, female characters drive the action and development of the story in "The Wedding Gift". Theodora Allen, plantation mistress, is an intellectual. She silently suffers Cornelius Allen's infidelity and his cruelty. Rebelling quietly and knowing that Sarah will learn to read and write, Theodora allows Sarah to be present during Clarissa's lessons. In order to protect her daughters and potentially win their freedom, Emmeline tolerates a forced relationship with Cornelius and endures it throughout the novel. Aware of Cornelius's physical and emotional abuse of Theodora, Emmeline comforts and supports her. Sarah has planned her escape from slavery since her youth; she takes matters into her own hands rather than waiting to be freed. Only Clarissa seems to be submissive; her rebellion and strength are not revealed until the novel ends. Male characters in "The Wedding Gift", with few exceptions, are self-centered and morally corrupt.
Marlen Suypapa Bodden's writing moves the novel rapidly through the years and the lives of the characters. She does not sugarcoat the violence or savagery associated with the plantation system and slavery. Rape scenes are not graphic, but leave no doubt in the reader's mind that the abuse occurred. Only the last few chapters of "The Wedding Gift" slowed and required an effort to continue reading. However, the final revelation was a complete surprise and made even those slower portions of the novel worthwhile. I will be recommending "The Wedding Gift" to those who enjoy a well written historical novel that is character driven and is not a cookie-cutter story.
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The Wedding Gift (Audible Audio Edition) Marlen Suyapa Bodden Jenna Lamia January LaVoy Macmillan Audio Books Reviews
I really wanted to like this book. I started reading this book with high anticipation. The beginning of the novel did not disappoint. The author put a lot of work into researching the slavery era and managed to create a very authentic setting. In the beginning, the characters all resonated well.
Then the book got very confusing and started developing a lot of inconsistencies. The major problem with this book were the characters and the plot. The author was trying to create multi-dimensional characters. Unfortunately, the effect was to create characters that were highly inconsistent from one scene to another. The most confusing character was one of the antagonists, Mr. Allen. Sometimes he did horrible things. Sometimes he did good things. I had no way of predicting what he would do next and no understanding of why he did the things that he did. I finished the book feeling like the person Mr. Allen was in fact a collection of many different people. The author also had a surprise ending which was inconsistent with the rest of the book and left me with a rather unsettled feeling. Overall, the characters in this book did not make a lot of sense --- I had very little understanding of who they were. In terms of plot, I think the author tried to put in too much.
This book had a lot of potential. But unfortunately, there were just too many inconsistencies and too much confusion in the plot.
The material in the story was interesting, however, from the beginning the writing struck me as being that of an inexperienced author.
The author "tells," but doesn't "show." Description of setting is minimal at best. Character development is so lacking that the reader does not get to understand who the characters are as people and what leads them to make decisions. This makes it difficult to be able to sympathize with any of the characters, and I finished the novel feeling like all of the characters were still strangers to me.
Sentences are choppy and short, and the dialogue sounds the same regardless of who is speaking and their education level, gender, or background.
In addition, the plot twists at the end seemed to come out of left field with no foreshadowing and no insight into the character's thought processes as she made those decisions. It felt like the last two pages were an afterthought tacked on to the rest of the story with the main character saying, "Oh, by the way, I did this. Hope I am forgiven." In this section, the protagonist also spoke directly to the reader for the first time in the entire story ("Reader, I ask that you do not judge me harshly...") This direct addressing of the reader also felt unnatural.
Overall, the story itself has the components of what could be an engrossing novel if only with better writing and editing. The poor writing got increasingly annoying as I held on to finish the novel.
This is the first 99-cent novel I have read on my , and I really hope the other 99-cent books I have purchased are of better quality. Given the number of 5- and 4-star ratings this book received, I expected it to be much better. Perhaps my expectations were too high for a 99-cent book.
"The Wedding Gift" is a novel about two half-sisters - Sarah Campbell, a slave, and Clarissa Allen. It is the story of their mothers - Emmeline, a slave, and Theodora Allen, a Southern belle and wife of the plantation owner Cornelius Allen. Facially a novel about slavery and the human tragedy associated with that institution, "The Wedding Gift" is, on a deeper level, about the bondage that affected all women during the pre-Civil War period. In this book, the desires and directives of the plantation owner - Clarence Allen - controlled these women's lives, whether the women were slaves or free. Women were chattels - property to sell, purchase, wed, or arrange a marriage for - in the interest of economic gain. All the women of "The Wedding Gift" were subject to Cornelius Allen's whims and authority. Instead of a typical novel about the pre-Civil War novel South and the injustices perpetrated by plantation owners and the institution of slavery, Marlen Suyapa Bodden has given readers a thought-provoking story that compels the reader through to the novel's last, surprising revelations.
Strong, female characters drive the action and development of the story in "The Wedding Gift". Theodora Allen, plantation mistress, is an intellectual. She silently suffers Cornelius Allen's infidelity and his cruelty. Rebelling quietly and knowing that Sarah will learn to read and write, Theodora allows Sarah to be present during Clarissa's lessons. In order to protect her daughters and potentially win their freedom, Emmeline tolerates a forced relationship with Cornelius and endures it throughout the novel. Aware of Cornelius's physical and emotional abuse of Theodora, Emmeline comforts and supports her. Sarah has planned her escape from slavery since her youth; she takes matters into her own hands rather than waiting to be freed. Only Clarissa seems to be submissive; her rebellion and strength are not revealed until the novel ends. Male characters in "The Wedding Gift", with few exceptions, are self-centered and morally corrupt.
Marlen Suypapa Bodden's writing moves the novel rapidly through the years and the lives of the characters. She does not sugarcoat the violence or savagery associated with the plantation system and slavery. Rape scenes are not graphic, but leave no doubt in the reader's mind that the abuse occurred. Only the last few chapters of "The Wedding Gift" slowed and required an effort to continue reading. However, the final revelation was a complete surprise and made even those slower portions of the novel worthwhile. I will be recommending "The Wedding Gift" to those who enjoy a well written historical novel that is character driven and is not a cookie-cutter story.
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