Status Updates From Our Sister's Keeper

Easily the best book I’ve read all year

“They strung Mary Turner up by her ankles. They doused her with gasoline. They lit a match. And they watched her go up in flames.

But that wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t enough to turn this woman’s body from life-giving vessel to funeral pyre.

They took a hunting knife and delivered that baby to its death beneath their feet.

And then they shot her full of bullets. Hundreds of them.”

“Look at it this way: Our grandmothers had to keep the master and mistress happy at all times. They had to be aware of their every mood and every need. And now we’re free to be that for our husbands instead of pouring it into some white folks’ families.”

Ummm wtf

“Violet’s father had a business associate in a new development called East Cobb, who told him there were jobs for young women like Violet—where even spirited girls like her could be molded into more pliant women.”

Oh no it's me

‘“My parents had been born here—had worked in cotton fields in Greenville, not five miles from Cobb’s city limits. They went to Chicago for a better life, and, for a while, it felt like they had it.” Vera shook her head. “It was a lie. It’s . . . everywhere.”’

It really is a lie 😭

‘“Especially for our womenfolk,”Dr. Farmer said in a soothing voice that did nothing to soften the grating chauvinism of his comment. “They need more rest than we do. Gentler schedules. Lighter days. I’m sure coming here and setting up your new home would have been a lot more amenable than gussying up for a ball.”’

Oh 🫠

‘“You girls mistake my kindness for weakness,” said Clotilde, although no one would ever mistake Clotilde as either kind or weak. “You forget that I can punish you in ways you’d never dare to imagine....”’

😬