Hobomok

by Lydia Maria Child

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1824 Original Publisher: Cummings, Hilliard

Genres: Classics, Romance, Historical

188 pages, Nook

First published January 1, 1824

About the author

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) was an activist and writer of novels, pamphlets, and works for children. She often used her writing to advocate for slaves, women, and Native Americans. Lydia Maria Child was born in Medford, Massachusetts, where her grandfather’s house, which she celebrates in her poem, still stands.

Reviews

[Emily Selchow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lydia Maria Child I’ve got beef with you.

istg I don’t think this woman had ever even heard of the concept of pacing.

these characters were so flat and indistinguishable from one another, at one point I literally thought Mary had died because I confused her for someone else. SHE’S THE MAIN CHARACTER. I SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSING HER FOR SOMEONE ELSE!!!!

and who is this narrator supposed to be????

also what was that ending?? justice for my diva Hobomok, he deserved so much better.

bad bad bad boring boring boring 0/5 stars badly done Lydia Maria Child.

[Tea ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy wasting my time on these kinds of works smh 🥱

[Nicole Westcott · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me five days to finish the first page but at least the end got interesting

[Mare · Rating 2 out of 5]

There isn't much plot, but the commentary was interesting. Don't think I would have finished it if it weren't for a class.

[Avery Romriell]

this book has maybe the worst pacing of any i've ever read. lydia what is your deal genuinely

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hobomok is a perfect example of a 19th century white author thinking they were being woke. Lydia Maria Child tells the story of a puritan woman who falls in love and has a child with a Native man. On the surface that seems groundbreaking, especially for a book written in the early 1800s. However… Child’s work is packed with the stereotypes and racism you would expect of literature at that time. For starters, the main character, Mary, chooses Hobomok, a Native American man, to be her husband only as a last resort when the man she really loves (who is white, of course) dies. So that brings into question the authenticity of the love in the first place. Naturally, the most problematic thing in this book is the portrayal of Native peoples. Hobomok, despite being the title character, has very little page time. He is seen as a man who is respectable because he has become somewhat assimilated into whiteness. All of the other Native people are depicted as violent and vengeful. I will give Child this: showing any sort of loving relationship between a white person and a Native person at this time was very controversial so good for her! But she also didn’t do it nearly as well as she probably thought she did. Really the only thing giving this book a borderline three star review is because I really enjoyed Child’s writing style. She really kept me hooked. Overall, definitely not the worst early 1800s race-related book I’ve read, but Child could have benefited from, maybe, talking to like one indigenous person, preferably several!

Warnings: racism violence, murder, and mentions of suicide

[Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhere between a 2 and a 2.5.
Read for class.
I appreciate the significance of this, how it humanized indigenous people in a way that was not often done by white U.S. citizens at the time. I also appreciate Lydia Maria Child's devotion to writing, even when her family did not support her. However, the first half of the novel doesn't even contain plot, mostly it contains rambling theology and discussion of England vs. the colonies. The second part is better and more well-written, but I can't bring myself to give it higher than 2.5 seeing how slow and useless the first half is.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Supposedly, a book's title should tell you something about the contents; however, the character of Hobomok appears in about one-fifth of the pages. Child experiments with concepts like interracial marriage and ecumenism, but rambling religious debates and a "convenient" ending for the era make this novel a definite skip.

[Madison Delaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for class and I give it around a 3.5. While it’s later chapters ended up being rather progressive for the time the first 3/4 of the book felt almost completely irrelevant to the story! Also Hobomok is in this story for maybe 2/5 of the book which is quite bizarre…

[sam banach · Rating 1 out of 5]

boo

[delanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m actually angry with how bad this book was. Nothing about the romances made sense, it was very focused on the history/reglious side, causing the novel to be unbalanced. I am very annoyed that I spend time reading this.

[Dusty]

Interesting meditation on grief in the last 1/3, and was actually readable and not an incomprehensible string of nonsense, so it’s got that going for it

[George · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah there's some interesting old-timey ideology in there, but God is it a slog. Hobomok's barely in it, it's mostly Puritans arguing about who hates Anglicans more.