The publisher describes this book as “Upstairs, Downstairs meets Parasite,” which does well in explaining the class issues examined here, although it doesn’t quite describe the full racial undertones within this book, which adds a new dimension to this theme.
August Sitwell has dedicated his life to the Barclays since he was a teenager when they “rescued” him from an orphanage and gave him a job at their estate. He’s part of their all-Black staff, now made up of just a few people because the Barclays have squandered away most of their wealth in the last fifteen years. The Barclays still take in orphan Black teenagers – three at a time – though, paying them almost nothing, while supposedly teaching them a trade. Mr. Sitwell has seen boys come and go, but for some reason, this trio stands out to him. And when one of them makes a misstep with a local white supremacist group, Sitwell struggles to figure out how to help him. He makes a deal with Barclay’s newest potential business partner, to bottle and sell sauce created by Miss Mamie (the cook) with Mr. Sitwell’s help, while using an overtly-racist caricature of Sitwell (aka, “The Rib King”) on the bottle, in exchange for a pittance that he uses to bribe the white supremacist group. However, as the first half of the book approaches its conclusion, after all these years, Mr. Sitwell’s anger is starting to come to the surface. And when he finally gets mad enough, he makes a decision that alters the life of everyone in and around the Barclay estate.
I really liked how Mr. Sitwell changed/grew in the first part of this book. In the beginning, we find him living his life as easily and quietly as possible, trying not to make waves or upset the system, but by the end of the first section, through the three teenage orphans, he awakens to how dangerous and evil the world can be.
The Black characters definitely had more dimension and ambiguity, while all the white people in this book were sorry excuses for human beings. The author makes a clear point that those who are explicitly racist and those who stand by and are complicit in the advantages of racism deserve the same outcome.
I also really liked Jennie’s character. While having a seemingly minor role in the first half of the book, she’s the main character of the second half. There are a lot of parallels between Jennie in the second half and Mr. Sitwell at the beginning of the book – trying to survive, even trying to thrive, and just finding more and more white people who want to take advantage of her, so trying to figure out how to break through society to create the world she wants to see.
My biggest complaint about this book was the break between part one and part two. While the characters overlapped and the end did circle back to the beginning, for most of it, they two sections really read like two very separate books.
I do recommend this one, especially right now as we are facing a time in the United States when we are trying to not just rebuild our country but build a better country, where we – especially those of us who are white – need to be aware of ourselves and the systemic racism in our society and stop being part of the problem.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Amistad and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.