The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek-A Book Review
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Did you know there were blue people? I’m not talking about the Smurfs or Avatars. There really were blue people. When I started reading this book I stopped the minute I got to the description of the main character, Cussy Carter, who had blue skin. Wait a minutes, I said to myself. I’m born and raised in Kentucky and I’ve never heard of blue people. More than likely I did (I’m a history major) but I for sure did not remember them. I researched them and you can read about them here or watch this very informative video.
The book is historically strong with it’s portrayal of the day and time that Cussy and her father (a coal miner) lived during. I don’t live too far from Hazard and I’ve seen miner’s come out of the mines with blackened faces and coal dust clinging to them like a deep dark black super glue.
The story begins in 1936, in the woods of Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. Cussy is 19 years old and the last remaining female of the Blue People. She joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky (it came with the New Deal from FDR- I do remember somethings I learned in my classes!) and Cussy becomes a librarian. There were, of course, no book mobiles back then. She road a mule (Junia-which I came to love almost as much as I did Cussy) and together they took books into unbelievably difficult terrain to families that were even more steeped in poverty than Cussy and her father were.
What happens to her while delivering her books and because of her father’s believe that finding her a husband is the right thing to do is terrifying. As if being blue wasn’t hard enough she faces prejudice, ignorance and gut wrenching poverty on a daily basis.
I recommend this book even though I didn’t find it easy to read. My heart ached for Cussy, for the people of Hazard and for all the folks who lived through The Great Depression. Are things better in Hazard, Kentucky now? I don’t live there so I can’t answer that question. I know there are still coal mines. I know there is still poverty but I sure didn’t know that once there were blue people there.
What I liked best about the book was Cussy, who is fearless. She is not only strong and determined. She sincerely loves books and as you have probably guessed by now, so do I. Cussy faced poverty and oppression but used her love of books and their words to keep pushing her, motivating her to share her love with others. She knew books could change lives and she wanted to share that power with the friends and neighbors she loved.
I hope you’ll read it. Let me know what you think!
The author
Kim Michele Richardson lives in Kentucky. She has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, building houses, and is an advocate for the prevention of child abuse and domestic violence. She is the author of the bestselling memoir The Unbreakable Child, and a book critic for the New York Journal of Books.
