Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge – 336 pages 

ARC from Algonquin Books and Netgalley for an honest review

Book Blurb:

Coming of age as a free-born Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson was all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practicing physician, had a vision for their future together: Libertie would go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is hungry for something else—is there really only one way to have an autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her mother who can pass, Libertie has skin that is too dark. When a young man from Haiti proposes to Libertie and promises she will be his equal on the island, she accepts, only to discover that she is still subordinate to him and all men. As she tries to parse what freedom actually means for a Black woman, Libertie struggles with where she might find it—for herself and for generations to come.

My Review: 4 stars

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Libertie was a book that offered so much more than the “blurb” suggests. In my mind, I assumed this would focus only on the mother’s success as a black, female physician and her attempts to have her daughter follow in her footsteps. And yes, that did ring true, but the heartbeat of the book came from the beauty and ugliness of a taut mother-daughter relationship.

This book showed so much about the free born black person’s experience during this time period in both the states and in Haiti. Colorism was a huge factor and in this case how it affected a mother who could pass, with a daughter as dark as night. Learning about slaves that escaped through coffins, those that helped and those that didn’t was also eye-opening.

It was Libertie’s voice, often called flowery by her mother, that I adored. Libertie spoke like a poet’s pen, each word had both meaning and subtext. I really enjoyed the first half of the book. The second part, in Haiti, where Libertie goes to find her independence as a married woman, didn’t work as well for me. The letters between Libertie and her mom were the best part of the second half. They allowed many truths to unfold. For many, it’s much easier to write your story than to tell it – that’s just another power of the written word.  

Overall, this is an enjoyable book that covers everything from mental illness, education, homeopathic medicine, colorism, race, mother/daughter relationships, music, independence and coming of age. 

Quotes I liked:

The only good poem I’ve ever written is you. A daughter is a poem. A daughter is a kind of psalm. You, in the world, responding to me, is a song I made. I cannot make another.”

Their bodies are here with us in emancipation, but their minds are not free.