Sue's Reviews > The Kitchen House

I thought the historical setting of the book was very good and it seemed true to the period. There were many period details that were interesting and for the most part, the characters were interesting. The story centers on Lavinia, an Irish indentured servant living on a Virginia plantation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Lavinia lives and works with the house slaves and feels she is part of their family. Because she is just a young girl when she arrives, the slaves shelter her from some of the more unpleasant aspects of their current situation. Understandable and as she is quiet and pliable, she grows up with a certain sense of naivete. This is acceptable in a child but I found it increasingly unacceptable and unrealistic as she aged. The black servants are aware that they live in an environment where one wrong word or slight misstep can be fatal. To have Lavinia in their very midst and not apprise her of these realities is potentially disastrous and stupid. The slaves are portrayed as very intelligent so that seems incongruous. As Lavinia ages she makes increasingly unwise choices until I was talking back to the narrator while sewing. Lavinia is supposed to be smart but she continues to act like a child. What? I read the first half and liked it but listened to the second half where she was being ridiculous. The narrators were awesome but the story just kept getting annoying because of her poor choices. One of the themes of the book is that history repeats itself but I felt like Lavinia was portrayed in a way that made her seem like she should have learned from the past.