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Libertie
Libertie
Libertie
Audiobook12 hours

Libertie

Written by Kaitlyn Greenidge

Narrated by Channie Waites

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

The critically acclaimed and Whiting Award–winning author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman returns with Libertie, an unforgettable story about one young Black girl’s attempt to find a place where she can be fully, and only, herself.

Coming of age as a freeborn Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson is all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practicing physician, has a vision for their future together: Libertie is to go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is hungry for something else—is there really only one way to have an autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her mother, who can pass, Libertie has skin that is too dark. When a young man from Haiti proposes to Libertie and promises she will be his equal on the island, she accepts, only to discover that she is still subordinate to him and all men. As she tries to parse what freedom actually means for a Black woman, Libertie struggles with where she might find it—for herself and for generations to come.

Inspired by the life of one of the first Black female doctors in the United States and rich with historical detail, Kaitlyn Greenidge’s new and immersive novel will resonate with readers eager to understand our present through a deep, moving, and lyrical dive into our complicated past.

Editor's Note

Stunning, stirring exploration…

Kaitlyn Greenidge’s novel, which Publishers Weekly calls “radical historical fiction,” was Roxane Gay’s pick for her Audacious Book Club in May 2021. Set in Brooklyn just after the Civil War, Libertie is the daughter of one of the first Black women doctors in the US, who wants Libertie to follow in her footsteps. But medicine is not Libertie’s passion. Yearning for freedom in all aspects of her life, the young woman follows her heart to Haiti. A stunning, stirring exploration of what independence means when you’re Black and a woman.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 30, 2021
ISBN9781980075745
Libertie
Author

Kaitlyn Greenidge

KAITLYN GREENIDGE’s debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, was one of the New York Times Critics’ Top 10 Books of 2016 and a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Greenidge is a contributing writer for the New York Times, and her work has also appeared in Vogue, Glamour, the Wall Street Journal and other publications. She has received fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Kaitlyn Greenidge lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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Reviews for Libertie

Rating: 3.784313688235294 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    So good book i like to read it every day
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautiful character development! The speakers execution added depth and emotion!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As a Haïtian descent I loved it. Well written and very well read too!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Truly a timely read. It touches upon the intricate and sometimes painfully woven relationships between black women, their history and dreams.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Parents have dreams for their children. But we need to be careful to nurture our children's dreams even if, or perhaps more importantly when, they do not match the dreams we have for them. We can guide and suggest, but in the end, it is not our life to lead. It is our children's. This is hard to face under normal conditions but when there are many other extenuating circumstances, it must be that much harder. Kaitlyn Greenidge's second novel, Libertie, shows how hard it is for a child to go against her mother's dreams and expectations and reach for her own.Set in Brooklyn and Haiti, this historical novel tells the story of Libertie, the dark skinned daughter of a light skinned, female, Black doctor who rejects her mother’s profession and instead marries and moves to Haiti. The story opens with Libertie watching as her mother saves an escaped enslaved man; at least physically she saves him. And young Libertie is awed by her mother's power but also horrified at the emotional cost, both to her mother and to the patient. As she eventually leaves home for medical school, she finds that she is drawn more to music than medicine, knowing that she is unwilling and unable to pay the emotional cost of healing, especially of failing to heal the whole person. She cannot and will not follow in her mother's footsteps, choosing instead a different path, one that will provide her with her own brand of heartache.This is a novel of strong women. In fact, it is inspired by the first black, female doctor in the US and her daughter. Greenidge writes movingly of mother daughter dynamics at the tail end of the Civil War. She has drawn the realities of the time into the text seamlessly, richly detailing the community and the challenges facing women, and especially a dark skinned woman like Libertie in the time of Reconstruction. Place is beautifully evoked here although the vast differences in the Brooklyn setting and the Haiti setting make this feel a little like two different novels mashed together and the travel to Haiti turns the novel toward the gothic and atmospheric with hints of Jane Eyre. Libertie's search for independence is moving and the reader sees it from her own perspective through the first person narration. The novel is a bit slow moving and contemplative with a lot of story lines, not all of which get a full enough treatment. Over all though, this is a powerful look at the high cost of slavery, colorism, and liberation in a story about family relationships, both mother daughter and husband wife, and about freedom and becoming.This is one of the books chosen for the Women's National Book Association Great Group Reads list for 2022. (And yes, I stole a line or two from the description on that page for my review but since I wrote those descriptions, I consider that fair game.)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The time is pre and post Civil War. The settings are Brooklyn, NY and Haiti. Libertie is the free-born daughter of a homeopathic doctor, Cathy, also free-born. Libertie is raised by her very stern, widowed mother to follow in her footsteps. Although her mother loves her dearly, she feels afraid to express this openly. Libertie is sent to a college in the midwest to be trained as a doctor. She doesn't want to be a doctor, but has never felt free to tell her mother this. Instead, she quietly flunks out of college, goes home at the end of term, and doesn't tell her mother the truth. Instead, she falls for her mother's new assistant, Emmanuel, marries him and goes back to his homeland, Haiti, to live with him and his family. His father is a stern bishop who doesn't even acknowledge her, and his sister is "crazy." Libertie realizes that she has gotten herself into this life because she didn't dare to tell her mother that she had flunked out of college and didn't want to be a doctor. Themes in this story are mothers and daughters, racism and colorism, that is, the prejudice some lighter-skinned blacks have against darker-skinned blacks. Libertie's mother is so light-skinned she could pass as white, while Libertie is dark-skinned. It was an interesting story and a well written book, but I wish it had been longer. I feel like a lot happened in a few pages, and would have liked to live with these characters longer. The story ends quite abruptly with a decision Libertie makes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Trigger Warnings: Suicide, ColorismBorn as a free black woman, Libertie Sampson has always helped her mother, Cathy, the only black woman physician in their Brooklyn Community, with her practice. But as Libertie gets older, she realizes her passion is not in medicine, like her mother’s dream has always been. Instead, she falls in love with music, and struggles to find out what exactly makes her happy.I finished this book last night, and a small part of me is still thinking about Libertie and what the future holds for her. The themes in this book felt well researched: the differences of feminism and what being free means, mental illness, mother-daughter relationships, and colorism within the Black community.The historical aspects of this novel were greatly researched as well. The lasting effects of slavery are still seen even to this day, but to see how freedom effected those who had just recently been emancipated had an impact on me.Their bodies are here with us in emancipation, but their minds are not free.How is it possible to become free when you do not even know who you are?I also enjoyed the relationship between Libertie and her mother, Cathy. The pressure Libertie had to at first be everything her mother wanted her to be, but then deciding that’s not what she wanted… We are able to see the relationship through both Libertie’s eyes as well as her mother’s through her letters to her daughter.Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and Greenidge’s writing. This was my first novel read by her and I am indeed impressed.I would recommend this novel to those who not only like historical fiction, but also those who like reading about mother-daughter relationships as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Libertie was raised in New York as a free black person, at least in name. Did she ever really feel free? Her mother, a light-skinned black woman who had sometimes passed for white when it suited her, had been trained as a doctor and herbalist and she expected Libertie to follow in her footsteps. Libertie's father had died before she was born and she was surrounded by women all her young life. Libertie's mother (Cathy) had sheltered slaves who had escaped from the south via the Underground Railway and during the Civil War she worked tirelessly to support the Union troops. The other black women in the community helped her raise funds and supplies but Cathy always held herself apart from them. And she also held herself from showing affection to Libertie. So, after the war, when Cathy sent Libertie off to Ohio to attend college Libertie felt she had been banished. While not exactly miserable at college, mostly because she became friends with two female music students, she really didn't want to be there and she failed her courses. She didn't tell her mother when she returned home and when her mother's student, Emmanuel, proposes to her and offers to take her off to Haiti, Libertie sees this as a way to escape before her mother finds out her disgrace. Except perhaps she is jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Libertie doesn't understand Creole, the language of the people of Haiti. Emmanuel is away all day on business. Emmanuel's father, a church official, sexually abuses girls and women in his church. Emmanuel's twin sister is either mentally ill or is pretending to be mentally ill. The only person who befriends Libertie is the maid, Ti Me. Her mother, who was upset that Libertie would marry and leave home and even more upset when she found out Libertie failed college, wrote angry letters to Libertie which caused Libertie to feel more estranged from her. She loves Emmanuel and even comes to love Haiti but she can't imagine continuing to live there. Once she decides to take control of her life instead of following the wishes and dreams of others she can finally claim her freedom.Libertie's mother is based upon a real person. Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward was the third African-American female to earn a medical degree in the USA. I think I would have liked the book to have more details about Cathy because there must have been a reason why she was so emotionally distant from Libertie and almost everyone else.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Libertie follows the story of the eponymous character from her childhood in a rural community near New York City, where she grows up free, but still under the restrictions of what it was to be Black in the United States. Her mother is a doctor, and often cares for people who have managed to escape slavery, not always successfully. Although she is respected, her stand-offish personality make it hard for others to get close to her, and that includes her daughter, Libertie, who struggles to find her place in the world, even as the Civil War ends and, theoretically at least, there are more opportunities available to her. She can't fit into the space her mother wants her to occupy, but when she takes a different path, things don't become easier or clearer. This is a coming-of-age story with a protagonist we don't usually see in this kind of novel; Libertie flails about trying to find a purpose and she's not always sympathetic as she does so. Greenidge also plays with our expectations for historical novels by omitting white people, who exist on the periphery and always as an untrustworthy and potentially dangerous force. But while Greenidge is doing some interesting things in her clearly well-researched novel, it felt a little saggy in places, like it wasn't sure where it was going. Greenidge is a promising writer and the things she choses to write about are always interesting, but she is still developing her craft. I'm eager to read what she writes next.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Black lady doctors existed before the Civil War?!?! The strength that must have taken - I'm in awe. I'm assuming this book takes place before the Civil War, as the time is vague. I'm only guessing on the time, as much is vague in this book. But wow would I love to read the book about a black woman doctor pre-Civil War -- sadly that is Libertie's mother and Libertie herself is focused on here and is much more wishy-washy. Or else she is following the instructions and dreams of what her mother wants her to do before she decides otherwise. Therefore, the book itself seemed to make weird narrative shifts that I didn't completely understand. Briefly mentioning interesting events or topics I wish had been explored more. Mainly, I wish Greenidge had instead focused the book fully on an early black woman doctor - that would have been amazing.*Book #120/304 I have read of the shortlisted Morning News Tournament of Books competitors 56 73 245
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Set during and immediately after the American Civil War, Libertie is narrated by a free Black girl named Libertie Sampson.  She's raised in Brooklyn (often referred to in the historically accurate parlance of Kings County) by her mother Cathy who is one of the first Black women to become licensed as a medical doctor.  In addition to running a practice for the local community, Dr. Sampson helps enslaved people who have escaped from the South.Libertie is under a lot of pressure from her mother to also go into medicine, although Libertie does not wish to follow that path.  Eventually, after flunking out of college, Libertie accepts the marriage proposal of her mother's apprentice Emmanuel and moves with him to Haiti.  Despite the promise of a new nation of free Black people, Libertie grows quickly disenchanted with Haiti and it at odds with Emmanuel's family.This book deals with a lot of issues. The conflict between mother and daughter is at the heart of the novel, but also more broadly the idea of how Black people should be and act now that they've gained their freedom.  The book also deals with colorism, as Libertie herself is dark-skinned, and the discrimination among Black people. Finally, it's a book of self-discovery as Libertie having decided how she does not want to live her life figures out what she really wants to do.This was a tough book to read since Libertie seems constantly to be dealing with the disapprobation of others and her own self-criticism.  It made me anxious to read.  Nevertheless, this is an excellent narrative with a lot of interesting period detail.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    2022 TOB— I struggled to get through this book. Libertie has a mother who wants her daughter to follow in her footsteps. It’s not what interests Libertie (although in the end I’m not sure what does.). Libertie ends up marrying a man that her mother does like and moves to Haiti. Things are strange there. I’m not sure I really have understood what the message of this book was supposed to be.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After losing her father when she was very young, Libertie was raised by her single mother in post Civil War era Brooklyn. Their hopes of being treated differently after the war were not to be for this light skinned Black woman and her darker skinned daughter. Yet, she believed that if she taught her daughter science and biology and sent her to college she would become a doctor just like her and would afford her more independence in the future. It was either love, lust or music that sidetracked Libertie which led her down a path which actually reduced her freedoms rather than expand them.I thoroughly enjoyed this story which is based on and inspired by the first Black woman to become a Doctor in New York.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    C1860, Libertie lives in Kings County in NY, and her mother is one of the few black doctors they are aware of. Her mother has plans for her to go to college and then they will practice together.Libertie goes away to college, and does not like it. She fails out of med school, but she discovers music. Back home in NY, she marries a Haitian man and goes home with him to his free country, rather than tell her mother she failed and lost interest. In Haiti she learns the black men may be free, but the black women belong to the men. ———I liked the first half of this book, when Libertie was growing up in New York. It was interesting, and touched on historical events. After Libertie arrived in Haiti, the storytelling seemed to shift. It got slower and more repetitive. While I found her discovery of how her life in Haiti would not be what she dreamed of--and as she learned how other women dealt with it--interesting, I found the storytelling shift to be disappointing. I listed to this on Hoopla, and the narration was great. I especially loved how the narrator sang the songs and lines. Being virtually tone deaf, I always struggle with songs in novels because I cannot imagine them at all, and can only "hear" songs I already know.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Based on the life of Susan Smith McKinney Steward, the first Black woman to become a doctor in the state of New York, this novel is told by her daughter Libertie, who loses her father at a very early age and is taught medical procedures by her determined mother during the Civil War period. Of very dark skin and a freewoman, unlike her mother who could “pass”, Libertie sees how there is now a bit of hope for a better future. When she is sent off to college for science classes in preparation for her own medical career, Libertie instead becomes entranced by two female students, gospel singers, and decides to be an impresario, bringing them back East to perform, without disclosing to her mother that she herself had been dismissed from college. She is obviously on a different path than her mother, but what exactly IS her path? When Libertie returns to Brooklyn, she meets and falls in love with her mother's young protégé, Emmanuel, who brings her to Haiti with the hopes of starting a clinic. Libertie is distressed to be sharing her home with her father-in-law Bishop Chase, who has molested many young women in the parish, and Emmanuel’s sister Ella, who has been driven mad by bearing witness to the abuse. Still believing in her husband but yearning for her mother back in Brooklyn, Libertie is faced with a difficult choice when she becomes pregnant. Libertie's perspective and thoughts are beautifully expressed and the reader cannot help but be lovingly concerned with a woman of such intelligence, with so little direction.Quote: "It is a strange thing, to see something you have imagined over and over again finally acted out in front of you. It is almost like a kind of death, a loss of something, that the thing is not as you has thought it would be."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a beautifully written historical novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge. If you look closely at this picture, you can see the red tabs that I stuck to pages when I found a particularly well-wrought sentence. There were dozens. The setting is 1860s Brooklyn. I have to admit, part of the charm of the book was that this was a time and place that was fresh and unknown to me. The line that opens the first section is this: "Se pa tout blesi ki geri. Not all wounds heal. 1860." The protagonist is Libertie Sampson, a young Black woman and the daughter of a doctor who can pass for white. Her mother intends that Libertie will join her medical practice, that they will be Dr. Sampson and daughter, but Libertie's interests lean elsewhere. The book begins in 1860, and we see through Libertie's eyes (told in first person POV) the world before the Civil War, during it, and afterwards, when Libertie moves to Haiti and experiences life there. Despite being set during a war, this is not a book full of Huge Events. Rather, it's a thoughtful, poignant look at a mother and a daughter, striving to find their places in a world where everything is changing. It is also a nuanced meditation on race and our responsibilities toward others. I'm tempted to call it a coming-of-age story, and I would recommend it not only to adults but to YA readers, who I think will identify with Libertie's longings and hopes, her fears of disappointing her mother, and her desperate break with her early life that causes her to feel regret and brings about a growing awareness of herself. I'm always entranced by authors who develop their secondary characters well. My favorite SCs in this novel are Experience and Louisa, two Black women singers, who are inspired by the Fisk Jubilee singers, all emancipated slaves, who formed an a cappella group that toured America and Europe to earn money to support Fisk University. The last section of the book, set in Haiti, was hard for me to read, as Libertie suffers emotional abuse at the hands of her husband Emmanuel's family. But her letter to her husband, at the end, is a satisfying triumph.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I didn't really enjoy this and skimmed the last pages. The story has potential. It revolves around the life of a free Black woman doctor in the mid through late 1800s and her daughter, Liberties. The mother wants her daughter to become a doctor like her, but instead she marries a man and moves to Haiti. Her life there is not as promised. There were interesting attempts at themes about escaping from slavery, creating Black communities, how these communities could and whether they should interact with whites. But in the end, I found the writing clumsy and never connected to any of the characters. The plot sort of meanders and the voice of the narrator just wasn't believable to me. I've read much better books that cover the same general time period and themes. But, this book has also been widely praised, so don't avoid it on my account!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Libertie: A Novel, Kaitlin Greenidge, author; Channie Waites, narratorAs a young girl, Libertie Sampson witnesses what she believes is her mother, Cathy, bringing a man, Ben-Daisy, back to life. Cathy, a doctor and free woman who was never a slave, is secretly helping to smuggle runaway slaves to safety. Her friend Elizabeth transports the escapees in coffins. After the Civil War, when slaves are free, Cathy builds a hospital for “colored women”. She is well practiced in homeopathic treatments and begins to teach women about their anatomy, as well. She treats both black and white patients. Libertie does not understand why her mother does that, since white people treated them so poorly. Libertie never feels quite free, although she was never a slave. Her mother is light-skinned, but Libertie is dark. Cathy has begun to train Libertie to be a doctor. When Libertie’s behavior and attitude lead her to believe that she has taught her as much as she can, she sends her away to school. Libertie interprets her mother’s actions with anger. She believes she is being turned out of her home. She feels that her mother has rejected and abandoned her and wants some kind of retribution. She is often headstrong and makes immature decisions. She harbors resentments. When she flunks out of school, she does not tell her mother. Instead, She blames her, seemingly unfairly, for many of her disappointments in life, and plots retaliation. She seems to want to hurt her. Yet every time she does, she also seems repentant, but is unable to admit it. Although she is bright and mature in many ways, she is naïve and immature in others. After she returns home from school, to Kings County, in Brooklyn, NY, she meets her mother’s boarder, another doctor, Emmanuel Chase. They fall in love, and in spite of her mother’s objections, she insists on marrying him. Her mother feels betrayed by both of them and distances herself from Libertie, not speaking to her until the day she is married. In spite of her frustration and disappointment, she arranged the wedding. Libertie moves to the island of Haiti with Emmanuel, hoping to finally feel free. What she discovers is that there, where they are all one color, there is still a hierarchy of color and class. Religion, spirits and superstition control behavior, there, as well as in New York. She is judged and falls short in the eyes of many. When she meets Emmanuel’s father, Bishop Chase, it is not a happy introduction. He is hurt because he was not consulted by his son before he married. He is rude and cold. Emmanuel’s letters explaining his marriage apparently never arrived. When she meets his twin sister, Ella, who is also rude and unfriendly, she realizes she is considered “mad”. She is angry, once again, because Emmanuel has been keeping secrets from her. She still does not feel entirely free, as she had hoped, although she begins to love the beauty of the island. As more secrets are revealed and Emmanuel’s expectations become harder to fulfill, she grows somewhat uncomfortable with her situation. When she becomes pregnant, she begins to question the reasons for her marriage and the future her children will face. She begins to miss the mother she has forsaken and written to rarely. When a traveling entertainment troupe arrives, she hears her mother’s friends singing. Because of her advanced state of pregnancy, she could not attend the performance, but heard them through the window. She insists Emmanuel find them and invite them to their home. They offer her salvation and she makes decisions that will affect her going forward. As she matures, she begins to value family and love in different ways. As Libertie finally comes of age, she discovers that what was once important, no longer is, and what once seemed unnecessary is of immediate necessity now.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    During the first half of the book, there were times when I really loved it. I particularly appreciated reading about the Civil War from this angle (not a plantation angle, and not a romantic angle either). Libertie's observations on life raised thought-provoking questions that had me feeling she must be going somewhere, figuring herself out as she comes of age.My feelings went downhill after Libertie's college experience, though. Her life basically gets...worse. I stuck with the reading, waiting for what I figured Libertie had to discover, but she more or less ambles along without knowing herself.By the end of the book, she still doesn't know. She makes a hard choice to move forward, but somehow she still seems lost. I found the ending abrupt and rather up in the air, without much truly settled.No, I don't need all novels to have happy endings, nor do I need them to spoon-feed messages to me. But I still like to have a compelling takeaway after finishing a book, even if it's something I dug into the story and found for myself.Perhaps this is a novel where something deeper about the point of it, something I'm missing, will occur to me later on. For now though, I'm not sure what I've gotten out of this overall.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I struggled at times with this book, but it was well worth the effort and while I may not have entirely enjoyed reading it, I know I will think about it for a long time. Libertie is the daughter of a Black, female doctor living in the North during and after the Civil War. Libertie's mother wants her daughter to become a doctor and provides her with medical training and encourages her to go on to college. Libertie, however, wants something different in life and struggles with her mother's expectations. I loved that this novel presented unique characters which often feel like they transcend their time - a vivid Black community, a Black female doctor, college-educated women - and these characters make me think this book will be featured on recommended booklists for some time to come.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pandemic read. Fascinating book based in part on a historic figure (Libertie's mother, that is, who was based on Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward, the third African American woman to earn a medical degree in this country.) There was so muchI learned about the times, and it was nice to see Homeopathy in practice. The second part of the book, where Libertie marries and moves to Haiti was not as satisfying to me-- a bit too gothic, but all in all, a good read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “Libertie” was hard for me to get into. While the writing itself is beautiful, the story did not draw me in. While I enjoyed the first portion of the book, I lost interest after Libertie ran off to get married. It did have some very interesting aspects though.There were moments of beautifully lyrical writing. The book, inspired by the life of one of the first Black female doctors in the United States, was well researched. The book addresses several themes - complex mother-daughter relationships, feminism, and searching for what freedom means for a young female dark-skinned woman in the aftermath of the Civil War. It is also a look at life in Haiti, where women are still subservient to men.An eye-opener from the book, for me, was how much easier life was for light-skinned Blacks who could pass for White than for the dark-skinned. It was also interesting - shocking - reading of some of the experiments done to treat people. The sea horse one. early in the book. still has me shaking my head. A powerful portion of the book that applies to present days is how even when a person may be freed there is lasting emotional damage that can result in serious mental health issues. We see that today in some of our refugees. This is a good book for exploring another piece of American history that many of us were unaware of.Thank you to Algonquin Books for generously supplying me with a review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Kaitlyn Greenidge's historical novel Libertie is the second book I've read in two weeks dealing with the role of women in the Civil War era (Dorothy Wickenden's nonfiction The Agitators about the lives of Harriet Tubman, Frances Seward and Martha Wright is the other), and it's a revelation.As the novel opens, Libertie is a dark-skinned Black 11 year-old daughter of Cathy, a light-skinned Black female physician living in Brooklyn during the Civil War. Libertie's father is dead, and in addition to caring for the people of her community, Cathy also aids people on the Underground Railroad.Madame Elizabeth, whose husband is an undertaker, brings Cathy an escaped slave hiding in a coffin. Cathy resusitates the man, Ben, and then Ben is sent to live in town with other escaped men. Libertie is drawn to Ben, and he has a strong effect on her.In one striking passage in 1863, during what became known as the New York Draft Riots, mobs of Irish people burned down a Black children's orphange to protest being drafted to fight in the Civil War, and the children that could be saved were rowed across the river to Brooklyn where Cathy and Elizabeth and others rushed to help the refugees. I don't recall learning about this horrifying event in history class.Cathy and other Black women formed the Ladies' Intelligence Society, and they planned to build a hospital to treat Black people, with a focus on women's health issues. Soon, she began to treat white women who turned to Cathy with reproductive issues they couldn't get help with in their own communities. They allowed Cathy, with her light skin, to treat them, but many wouldn't allow the dark-skinned Libertie to touch them.Cathy arranged for Libertie to attend a Black college in Ohio to train to become a doctor like herself. While at school, Libertie does not get the grades necessary to continue, and she is afraid to tell her mother when she returns home. Libertie meets the doctor who is now assisting her mother, and she agrees to marry him and move to Haiti, where his father and sister have fled the scourge of slavery in the United States. Cathy is furious that the dreams she had for her daughter are gone, that Libertie has chosen to be a wife and mother as her life's ambition.Adjusting to life in Haiti is difficult for Libertie, her father-in-law and sister-in-law do not treat her kindly, and her husband appears too busy to notice. She becomes attached to TiMe, the family servant, and discovers a troubling situation, one she will not ignore.Libertie tells her own story here, and people who love Toni Morrison's novels will find themselves drawn to Kaitlyn Greenidge's lyrical style of writing, with an element of magic involved. Libertie has a strong mother-daughter story at its core, and I for one would love to read Cathy's own story told by her as well.We read to put ourselves in the shoes of others, and read historical fiction to feel how people lived in other times other than ours, and Libertie accomplishes both of those brilliantly. I can see why so many publications called it one of the most anticipated books of 2021. Libertie the book and Libertie the person are unforgettable.Thansk to Algonquin Books for putting me on Kaitlyn Greenidge's book tour.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “I saw my mother raise a man from the dead.” Is the powerful first line of Greenidge’s second novel. Libertie is the daughter of a black female doctor. Born before the American Civil War, Libertie struggles with becoming the doctor her mother wishes her to be. Her mother, Dr. Sampson is light-skinned, making it easier for white women to accept her doctoring skills. Libertie is dark-skinned, making life different for her. She fights her mother’s wishes, and when Emmanuel Chase, a young doctor who has come to Brooklyn to apprentice under her mother’s tutelage, Libertie falls in love with him and moves to his home in Haiti. She fails to find the black homeland she’d been expecting and continues to struggle with her place in the world. This is a departure from historical fiction books by spending more time looking at how historically Blacks themselves placed value on their skin tones rather than on the inner strengths of the people. The characters, as well, are different beginning with the man, Mr. Ben, who is raised from the dead by Libertie’s mother. He, too, is a lost soul, whether from mental illness or from a true sorrow at the loss of a woman he loved. There are some black college students who are afraid to perform for white audiences. They do not want to share the pain of their singing with people who wouldn’t understand. Over and over, Libertie deals with the issue of “what does it mean to be free.”
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "Their need was monstrous." It wasn't only the barn cats that frightened Libertie by their demands and needs. Every one seemed to want something from her. First, her mother, a free, black, homeopathic doctor who determined that Libertie would follow into her career. Her mother was deemed a saint, caring for the whole world, secreting slaves into freedom, and healing black and white alike.Libertie was overwhelmed by the diseases of the body, but it was the diseases of the mind that most troubled her soul, including the unrequited love of a newly freed slave, and the broken people who gathered in a back room, free but never safe from the trauma of their past. Her mother's cures could not heal broken spirits.Libertie's light-skinned mother was allowed to touch the white women's bodies, but they flinched at Libertie's touch. She was Black Girl. How could her mother minister to the people who hated them for the war? How could her mother ignore history for the sake of money?During the Civil War, the women gathered to create a hospital, and Libertie felt the power of their communal energy. She learned from their example how to scheme to right a wrong world.The world felt full of possibilities and Libertie marveled over her choices.Libertie was sent to college where she first experienced the world outside of her mother. She hoped to forge her own path. She hated the medical coursework, and her classmates were 'colorstruck' against her. Music saved her; hearing two girls singing, she presents herself as their pupil. Singing, her soul soared. But she discovers the girls have a special relationship that can never include her.Returning home, Libertie meets the recent medical school graduate working under her mother, the light skinned, straight haired, Haitian, Emmanuel. He weaves stories of a beautiful country ruled by Negroes, a place where blacks can be truly free. Emmanuel enchants Libertie with his stories of the Haitian African gods still worshiped, although attacked by his Bishop father. He proclaims to believe in 'companionate marriage,' a modern understanding. She accepts his marriage proposal. She had failed as a daughter, as a medical student; perhaps she would find herself as a wife and mother.Haiti is beautiful, but is not the paradise she had imagined. Emmanuel's family resents her, and she discovers a double standard that her husband is complicit in maintaining. In her quest to discover who she is, to find real freedom, Libertie finds herself boxed in by expectations and limited choices, until she finds the courage to take control of her destiny.Every generation must find its own way, every woman pushes against the societal, familial, and political forces that bind her. Libertie's story is set in the past, but her story will be recognized by young women today. What does it mean to forge your own path, to be free to be yourself? How do we discover who we really are in a world of demands? I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This novel tells the story of Libertie, the black daughter of a free woman doctor in New York, beginning during the Civil War and ending during Reconstruction. The opening scenes describe smuggling a slave to freedom, but portray the complexities of the man's life after slavery. Although free from slavery herself, Libertie feels trapped by her mother's ambitions and dreams for her, at the same time that they are extremely close. After her mother enrolls her in college so that she can also become a doctor, Libertie finds new interests and friendships but does not engage in her studies and finally flunks out. Meanwhile, her mother has taken on an apprentice from Haiti of whom she is very fond, and Libertie feels that she has been displaced in her mother's affections. The intense mother-daughter relationship seemed a bit muddled at times, and when Libertie ended up marrying the apprentice and moving to Haiti, the estrangement between mother and daughter did not make much sense to me. The theme of various types of freedom and entrapment make this a story worth reading.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I wanted to like Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge but I just could not get there. I like historical fiction--especially when it teaches me about a time and people that I have not read much about before, and Libertie delivers on that. The novel begins at the end of the Civil War and continues through reconstruction, and follows Libertie, the daughter of a black, female doctor. Her mother wants Libertie to follow in her footsteps, but Libertie longs for something else. All the pieces for a great book are here, but the plot moves too slowly, and the characters--including Libertie--are not drawn out enough to balance that. Greenidge’s writing is more than OK, but she needs to work on her pacing, and some better editing might have helped.