Just as any other summer read, Mudbound felt like just another priority. When I picked it up and mindlessly began to read, about 5 pages in my thoughts and attention altered. Hillary did a fine job on connecting the reader and the characters (minus Pappy). I began to feel for Laura and her desire and drive for love and sacrafice, as well as the connection/friendship that Jamie and Ronsel shared. Hillary gave a male and female perspective which made this book less one sided. However, the beginning was something I had to read a few times because up until Laura’s first chapter I thought Jamie was a female (don’t hate). Despite my love for the characters (or most of them), I did not like the plot. I felt as though If you didn’t have much time on your hands the booked seemed slower. As if all the good action happened at the end of the book. I had thoughts about how the author may have intended this. Sort of like the book picked up the pace as the storm grew darker as well as the circumstance. These dreary details however, like flourence killing Pappy and the ptsd of Jamie and the racism of Ronsel made the book feel real. It did not sugar coat the world or have the perfect ending. But in the end I didn’t sense a significant change in Laura, Henry, or James due to the events and tragic things they had to see others overcome. They weren’t blind to it, but they also weren’t hurting much from it. In a way I feel that these characters represent those in the world who see but choose to ignore. They do not confont issues because they fear them. But on a possitive note this book didn’t make you curl up in a ball and cry for hours like other authors who make their books so pessimistic (cough* cough* John Green*). Mudbound was true and relevant to todays events. In a way it reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book had its peaks of faith and it brought attention to morally correct and incorrect things. Towards the end everything seemed out of place. The thought of hope after post war, the killing of Pappy, and racism seemed a little unrealistic for what I thought Hillary was going for. But when you apply that to todays world we often see hope in fixing injustice. Even in the worst of the worst situations we at least have a drop of hope that keeps us going. Hillary did a fine job of displaying that.
Mudbound
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