The Invention of Wings By Sue Monk Kidd Book Review

As I mentioned in this post, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd was the February book club choice. This book was released only a week or so before we choose it and I'd just recently heard a review of it on NPR, so it was exciting to find it on the list of nominations for book club.

The Invention of Wings is a novel based on the true events of two sisters and their fight for the rights of slaves and women.  Sarah, the main character, is given a slave at a very young age, Hetty (a.k.a. Handful).  The novel chronicles her journey to fight for the right of 'her' slave and others alike, all the while fighting to find her position as a women in male dominated mid to late nineteenth century southern states of America. Sarah is eventually joined by her sister, Nina, who is like a child to Sarah to help pursue her dreams of equal rights for slaves and women.  It's their mark on history that Kidd tries to capture in this novel.

This novel is a fast read, but I have to say I learned a new word or two.  Like many other novels, I read this on my iPhone using the kindle amazon app which allows me to check definitions of words as I'm reading, I love that feature.  Oddly, I've taken to reading on my iPhone perhaps out of necessity but I also prefer the weight consistency of the device (meaning reading an actual book [imagine that...] and shifting the pages changes the way I hold the book which I've realized can be uncomfortable, especially when reading fat books!), that the text is less per 'page' so it seems to be a faster read than a traditional book (I realize this is a superficial reason, but on the other hand I've managed to get through more books this way), and it's super convenient as I'm rarely without my phone.

Most of us at book club agreed that this novel was much more powerful once we realized it was written based on true events and people.  I agree with the groups general opinion because as I was reading, I found myself questioning the plausibility of various events (mostly the chance of them occurring at specific time points) and also just started to get sick of Sarah's inability to stand for herself, a reoccurring problem in the beginning of the novel.  In a purely fictional novel, where historical events wouldn't constrain the writing (by this I mean that the character doesn't have pre-defined events in his/her life... open to opinion if this is a constraint, but I've chosen that for now), I'll venture a guess that the number of occasions where Sarah let herself down would have been reduced.

I found the most powerful symbol in the novel to be Charlotte's 'life-story' quilt.  Charlotte is Hetty's mother, the slave that is given to Sarah on her 11th birthday.  Slaves were not allowed to know how to read or write (it was a crime to teach them to do so), but the quilt is in defiance to this law and is the medium for Charlotte to write her story.  It's the release of her tragic life and history.  Nobody can take away her ability to tell her story even if it's not in a written form.  Charlotte's quilt represents her wings, which as you could guess is a reoccurring symbol.  I don't think these are the 'wings' that Charlotte wanted or hoped for, but they are just as powerful at releasing her from the physical chains that bind her.

So, if you are looking for a book to read that you will want to pick up every night, this is a good choice.  Sue Monk Kidd also has many other novels which come highly recommended, so I think given her track record, the chance you will enjoy this novel is good.  Happy Reading!