I’ve had this book for a while but I kept skipping over it, but once I listened to The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, I knew this book had to move up in the priority list. Because I had it on my shelf I chose to read it versus trying to find it on audio, even though I knew I’d be comparing them.
The Book woman is a More Real Portrayal
The Book Woman is a gritty and more accurate portrayal of what the librarians faced in their journeys. I feel like this was more of an accurate representation of the hardships many people faced.
Of course, this book took it a step further and highlighted a little-known genetic disorder, methemoglobinemia, where unoxygenated blood causes the skin to turn blue. These people were treated as badly as colored people if not worse.
The book started a bit slow for me, and I struggled to connect with the main character but as the story progressed, I became more invested in her life and her struggles.
Overall Odd Pacing
Unfortunately, I feel the pacing of the entire book was a bit skewed because there was a slow buildup and the action took place in the last couple of chapters. There was so much thrown at us at the end, I wish some of it had been slowed down and explored a bit more. I think the slower pacing of the beginning and middle could have been adjusted to accommodate everything that happened at the end, improving the overall pacing of the book. Because of this odd pacing, it did detract from the book.
Troublesome Book 2
I know there’s a second book and I don’t know if I was invested enough in the story to continue, especially since it was hard to get going. If I stumble upon it, I’m sure I’ll pick it up, but I won’t go out of my way for it.
Overall, this was 3.5 stars and I rounded up to 4 stars on Goodreads.