markm reviewed All That She Carried by Tiya Miles
Review of 'All That She Carried' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This book had two main strengths for me. First, the idea of it; using a rare African-American family keepsake and the detective work around its origin as the basis for the whole study. Second, the way in which it brings home the horrors of slavery beyond our usual intellectual awareness of it by associating it with stories from the particular area where Ashley’s sack originated. On the other hand, the author’s often lengthy and florid prose, and her willingness to speculate about many different possible real and symbolic significances of every aspect of the sack and its contents (the textile used, the type of embroidery, the history of the pecan…) wore on me.
