Review: Shows the ugly side of humanity in an uplifting way
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 2, 2013
It is easy to forgot the atrocities committed during the shameful slavery years.  This book reminds you, but through the eyes of a sweet and perceptive little boy, who becomes a young man through the course of the book.  It was a tale that was often sad, but very well done.  In particular, the accents were spot-on -- I felt like I could hear the characters speaking in their southern accents and dialects.There were two things that kept me from giving this 5 stars.  [Mild spoiler alerts.]  First, I felt as if Jelani's affections always remained with the black characters.  Once the white characters had done their part to help Jelani -- which is in itself noble because it would have been easier for them to be complacent and adopt their communities' bigoted conduct -- Jelani seemed to just forget about them.  Even the ones that he supposedly loved.  For example, he did not even have a thought as to telling a white woman who treated him like her son that her life had been turned upside down after a fateful event.  He just moved on.  It seemed inconsistent with his thoughtful, loving character.  Second, even though I had no problem with the mild supernatural aspect in the story, the climax was based entirely on the supernatural element.  It seemed like a cop out.