Review: The outskirts of hope

Title: The outskirts of Hope

Author: Jo Ivester

Release Date: April 7, 2015

Rating: 3/5 Stars

My Review: This book is a memoir that tells the story of a white family who moves to a small all-black town in Mississippi during the height of the civil rights movement. The story focuses mainly on the mother and was written by her daughter, told mainly through her diary entries.

There were a lot of things about this book that bothered me, the racism, the sexism, the patronizing way that the white people in the book all acted toward the blacks, but I think in part that is the point. While I won’t say I enjoyed the book I didn’t hate it either and it was interesting to see that time period through the eyes of someone who had the privilege and the background of a middle class white person. I wish issues had been dealt with a little deeper and that they hadn’t been glossed over but because it’s a memoir it makes sense that maybe the main character glossed over things as a way to avoid dealing with them.

If you’re interested in the civil rights movement at all this book offers an interesting view point that you likely won’t find elsewhere.

*I received this book from in exchange for an honest review*