Review: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

 Dear Book Loves,

This week I opted to read and review a book I was assigned in a book club titled The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson.  This narrative revolved around a young woman named Cussy who lived with her Pa in the Kaintuck mountains of Tennessee.  Cussy's mother has already died and is buried on a hill above the home Cussy shares with her father.  Cussy and her family are part of a group of people who were known for having a blue tint to their skin.  The blue-tinted skin disorder is inherited and it is known as Methemoglobinemia.  Several people in the mountains where Cussy lives also have the disorder.   

Cussy's Pa works in a coal mine and is often looked to by his colleagues to help lead the mine workers' union.  Cussy takes a position with the Worker's Progress Administration founded by President F.D. Roosevelt to help provide wages for the people of the United States as the country was recovering from the Depression.  As part of her job, Cussy rides a mule through the rivers, mud, and other debris along the mountain pathways where she lives delivering books and literature to her patrons.  The books are donated by larger libraries within the state.  The patrons to whom Cussy delivers books are incredibly impoverished and often have nearly nothing to eat unless they grow the food or hunt the local wildlife.  Many homes are well-weathered and the walls inside are often lined with newspaper.  There is a local school where Cussy delivers books and most of her patrons call her "Book Woman".  

Now Cussy's Pa wants to see his daughter married before he leaves this earth.  In these parts, a father would light a courting candle inside a lantern and hang it on a post outside a home in order to let available suitors know a daughter was eligible for marriage.  People in and around Kaintuck generally avoid the "blue-skinned people".  Actually, in Cussy's local town where she goes to the post office to help unpack and sort books for delivery, she is often treated as an outcast.  People look down upon her and oftentimes mistreat her.  She does have friends among the other book delivery employees.

Cussy's first marriage does not end well as the man only wanted to marry her to also obtain the land her father owned. One of the deceased husband's relatives often stalks Cussy both at her home and along her book route.  Cussy's biggest delight is delivering new reading material to her patrons while they return what she has previously delivered them.  There is Angeline, who asks for Cussy's help because her husband was shot while trying to steal a chicken to feed his family.  Angeline is pregnant and is quite tiny throughout her pregnancy due to the scarcity of food.  Winnie is the teacher at the local school where Cussy delivers books.  Winnie witnesses many of her students die from starvation.  One school boy named Henry is especially fond of Cussy and wraps a LifeSaver in a tissue as a gift for her.  All sorts of interesting patrons line Cussy's book route including one new patron named Jack Lovett who arrived from the West where he had worked for the U.S. President as a builder.  

Cussy tries to assist all her patrons as many do not know how to read or write.  An elderly woman named Loretta is blind and Cussy often reads to her.  Cussy and her Pa along with other blue-skinned people are not welcomed at local town events.  And then a doctor takes an interest in Cussy as he wishes to study what causes the blue-tinged skin in her family.  Low and behold, after dragging Cussy several times to a hospital and besieging her with tests, he and a colleague discover the inherited blood disorder causing the blue tint to Cussy's skin.  The Doc gives Cussy medication for the blood disorder in the form of Methylene.  It works and drains the blue tint from her skin, but it also has dire side effects and does not cause the skin to maintain a more normal skin tone forever.  Cussy is simply amazed by how the medication changes her skin tone, but as happy as she is to look "normal", folks in town still mistreat her.  It's almost like once you are designated as an outcast, you are always an outcast even if you are medically treated to help appear more like regular, normal people.  

The ending of this book is incredible and I will not give it away here.  I will say that I am glad the author created the ending she did for this book because though readers often like a book where the narrative closes and all the questions are answered and all the book's characters live happily ever after; life is generally not that way and superb narratives do not have to end that way in my opinion.

I highly recommend the book.  I never knew about the true to life blue-skinned people who lived often bleak and scary lives in the mountains of Kentucky.  Their hardships, burdens, and small acts of kindness should be known by all of us even if it just helps readers come to understand the virtues of being humble and helping others learn to be more aware of their own bias toward people who are labelled as "different'".  In my opinion, differences are what makes each of us unique and this world could use a heck of a lot more kindness and thoughtfulness being extended to everyone.

Best,

Grace (Amy)