The Sleeping Night- Barbara Samuel
I never thought I'd say this but after reading this book I feel like I'm a hopeless romantic. This book was so much more than what I expected. At places, it was slow, there were grammatical errors and wrong spellings, but I got an ARC from Net Galley, so I can simply ignore the shortcomings and say that I reaaaaalllllly liked this book. Full review with spoilers This is the second book that I’ve read which is based on World War II but in this story it’s more on the sidelines. The story revolves around Angel and Isaiah who have known each other since their childhood. Their parents were good friends, that is, Angel’s dad and Isaiah’s dad, Angel’s mother died during childbirth. They used to play together and read stories to each other. However, the problem was that Angel was white and Isaiah was colored. During those times, people had a strict caste system and considered colored men inferior and killed them for daring to forget their place in the society. It was the mistake that Isaiah’s father made and died. Since then, things subtly started changing between Angel and Isaiah. They couldn’t see much of each other and were never supposed to be alone. As Isaiah grew into a teenager, he became more angry living in Gideon, Texas with the way things were. His anger was directed at Angel and they grew apart more till Angel’s father made Isaiah leave for the Army. The childhood friendship had somehow died and Angel had to marry her other outcast friend, Solomon. It wasn’t until Isaiah heard about Solomon’s death, who had gone to the war two weeks after being married to Angel, that he wrote to her. Angel and Isaiah shared letters all throughout the war till one day suddenly Isaiah stopped writing. The story begins so randomly that for a moment I felt that I wasn’t reading the right book. Then in a few pages, my slow brain started catching up and the story began. I loved how the author’s writing style. The way she moved between the past and the present, switching between letters that were written and posted and some that were never mailed to the current complications of Isaiah being back in town and Angel and him talking an getting friendly again, was excellent. I connected so well to the characters that I could feel their longing, fury, helplessness, desire, happiness, and sadness, jealously all in my bones. I just wanted Angel and Isaiah to be together so bad that every time a scene would come when they would become awkward or indifferent to each other, I would want to put them facing each other so that they could sort and talk things out which they hardly did. The injustice and the horrors of the war were all over the book. There are things that while reading felt long or scenes which could have been shorter or avoided altogether; but after finishing this book, I felt like all those things just made me connect better to Angel and Isaiah. The way the childhood memories were portrayed, the way they both connected, the way neither of them could stop thinking about each other, it was just so romantic! I am not a romantic at heart but reading the story and feeling their anguish and fear tore my heart. I think this book had one of the most beautiful love-making scenes. It was more than halfway after the story but it was worth the wait. I read each line real slow and tried to soak in the words. It was lovely. I must sound like an idiot but the author has a talent of making you connect to the characters in a whole new level. I guess this is what I like the most about the book. The book covered what it summarized about, which is, to me, like the goal being accomplished because sometimes after reading a book you feel as if the authors mislead you into believing something else after giving you a summary or a snippet of the story. There were moments when I shook my head unable to believe that there was a time when racism was at its worst. There are racists still and I do loathe them but reading about times when even being polite or friendly to colored people made you a throne to people’s eyes still surprised me. What Edwin and his friends did to bully Angel to make her give them her store was so wrong and still no one took her side even when everyone was such a follower of the lord. In which religion or book does God ask people to stand by when someone is being clearly assaulted and violated? Sometimes I’m glad that those old times have passed but then thinking about current world problems doesn’t seem like a relief either. My favorite parts of the book were the letters. The letters spoke volumes of each of their characters and reading how things had changed for them since childhood made me feel like I knew them as well as any of my oldest friends. I guess it’s quite obvious that my favorite scene was when Isaiah and Angel finally gave up their inhibitions during that stormy night. That scene is so beautifully written that I think I’m going to remember it for a long time to come. After that I was actually waiting for something bad to happen. Because that’s what usually happens in every other forbidden love story, be it a book or movie. I was expecting the worst, naturally, and was praying, fingers crossed that the author didn’t kill Isaiah. But finally he didn’t die! He was alive till the end and that made me so happy that I am willing to share my chocolate stash with the author, even my nutella; which definitely is a big deal for me. This was my reaction peeking up from the pillow when I finally read that he survived:
I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did cause I’m used to being disappointed more often. It was a refreshing romantic read and I really liked it. I don't know how many times I'm going to repeat that.