The Kitchen House

"365 pages"

"This book was an absolutely beautiful, heart wrenching story. I was at first reluctant to read as I knew it would have some sadness, but truly, I had no idea. From the moment I started reading it gripped me and never let go. Even after it was over. This is probably a new favorite of mine and I won't soon forget the amazing tale of the past. "

"Such a great story "

"A quick note before I get into the meat of this review. I’ve been a part of recent discussion regarding if novels like this one should be written by white authors. It’s a multilayered issue, and ultimately I come down on the side of whatever gets an individual to expand their boundaries. If your pathway in is through a white author, I think that is a fair starting point. For me personally, I read this after reading Kindred, and in my opinion Kindred is the gold standard for books set on historical plantations. I would recommend that next for anyone who is interested in reading beyond this novel. <br/><br/>Now for a little more backstory on how I ended up reading this: I love travel, but I have a compulsive need to be aware of the history that occurred in the locations I visit. It often makes me a real bummer to travel with, since in cities like Charleston, I can’t just sip cocktails and go shopping with girlfriends. I’m dragging people to museums and historic sites that focus on what happened to the enslaved workers who lived there as a way to promote that awareness. Shockingly it does not make me popular at parties.<br/><br/>But I can’t ignore it, and that is incidentally why I picked up this book as I was traveling to Mount Vernon for a long weekend near DC. In a hilarious a twist, it was Father’s Day, so I felt it was only fitting to explore the history a founding father of this messy but beautiful country. The site does a good job of not whitewashing despite maintaining the sense of Washington being a fairly nice human being for the era. But he was still a part of a system that systematically dehumanized Black enslaved workers, and that’s a problem.<br/><br/>With that elaborate backstory of why I chose this book at this time out of the way, I can say I enjoyed it. I think the author did a great job with her research (especially as I was comparing her story to a real life historical plantation), and I think it was smart of her to use an indentured servant as a way into the story, rather than trying to write an exclusively Black narrative. It added a layer of complexity to the storyline that was well developed and added a lens that I haven’t seen other stories attempt. <br/><br/>It was heart wrenchingly accurate for what women in particular would have experienced during that time, but it was ultimately a hopeful novel that doesn’t shy away from the horror and sadness. I really enjoyed it, and while I’m not sure I would read the sequel (which is about passing; I’m very interested in it but I have another novel, The Vanishing by Brit Bennett, that I intend to read first), I really enjoyed the added value I had from reading this when I did."

"An interesting premise, but unfortunately fell into soap opera territory really quickly."

"So well written!! Finished reading quickly-great ideas, new perspectives on historical fiction pre & post abolition and an Irish Immigrant servant girl voice too"

"I started this book in a Saturday morning with a little less than half read. I couldn’t put it down after a certain point, I have to know what happened and I finished 245 pgs in 1 afternoon. The Kitchen House is a hard book to read, because it is so much of what we hear about the history of the South. It was amazing, exhausting, & haunting! Grissom has written a fantastic book, it should be required reading."

"Loved it. Love history novels regarding slavery and the horrific way slaves were treated. It's hard to imagine what slaves went thru but something we all need to be aware of and understand. This book is one of my favorites."

"The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom is historical fiction set in the late 1700s- early 1800s. It’s written from the perspective of Belle, a slave, and Lavinia , an orphan indentured servant from Ireland that comes to the plantation. She is treated as family by the slaves, but her position since she is white and not a slave makes things very interesting as she gets older when loyalty is tested. The characters were very interesting… they certainly have stayed with me. There were a couple of things in the plot that really bothered me, but I suppose that was probably the point of those things happening. It was not a positive time. There are definitely positive and hopefully themes in the story about found family and perseverance through tough times."

"Love, love, loved this story! Well written engaging page turner!"