What readers think of River Sing Me Home, plus links to write your own review.

River Sing Me Home is based on extensive research by Eleanor Shearer. The Caribbean setting may be outside the United States, but the stories are all too familiar. As Rachel searches for her "lost" grown children, the reader lives some freed slaves' experiences - revolt and death, selective mutism, living off the grid, and passing as elite mulatto. Rachel says, "'Freedom is something different to me. The search, that is freedom.'" So freedom is individual. The reader wonders what his/her freedom would be.

I thought the pace of the story was a bit slow at times, but it is a story that tears at your heart. It takes place as slavery is ending in the Caribbean, and slaves are being moved into an apprenticeship system. The main character, Rachel, runs from her plantation, and goes on a journey to find the children that were taken from her over the years, and in the process learns some things about herself. I really wanted Rachel and her children to have a happy ending. I also learned some things and feel this is a story that needs to be told. The author's note at the end of the book was very informative and her connections to the story are also interesting to read about. I would recommend this book to others.

I was immediately attracted to this book by its lyrical title, and the writing throughout did not disappoint. What did disappoint me was the pace of the narrative. While certainly I felt the long, arduous journey Rachel and her family made through the islands, it was a slog much of the time. Many of Rachel's thoughts were repeated and repeated and while thought-provoking, lost their power through the constant reiteration. I enjoyed the historical aspect of the post-slavery era in the islands, not knowing much of what went on at that time. An average read at best.