The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

On Monday, August 31st, the Booked for the Day Book Group met to discuss, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. Here are a few things we discussed during the meeting:

• We started our discussion by wondering if anyone had heard about Sarah and Angelina Grimke and their role in abolition and women’s rights before they read the book. None of us had heard about the Grimke sisters or about the Denmark Vesey uprising.
• We also talked about the issue of slavery and what we did not know before reading the book. Many of us were surprised that the slave owners outsourced the slave punishments to the workhouses. We enjoyed reading about some of the more inventive ways that Charlotte and Handful rebelled against Sarah’s mother and we discussed the myth of the compliant slave.
• We were surprised by the abolitionist and Quakers who believed that the slaves should be freed but that equality was ludicrous. We discussed Angelina and Sarah’s pew episode in the Quaker Church and were surprised by the congregation’s reaction. We thought Angeline and Sarah were a good team and needed each other to accomplish what they did.
• Sarah’s father was a character that seemed to us to be at odds with himself. He would not let Sarah free Handful but when he was dying he admitted that he did not like the idea of slavery and it was greed that did not allow him to follow his conscience. In the end he seemed like a broken man who wanted to die alone.
• We talked about how prejudices still exist today. Unfortunately we all agreed that this seems to be a norm in almost all areas of society. A large portion of the population have prejudices in different degrees.
• The group did not think it was a good idea for Sarah to give back ownership of Handful to her mother. We thought that Sarah could have protected her and given Handful her freedom when Sarah was older. Handful’s decision to escape was probably for the best because even though Sarah’s mother agreed to free Handful upon her death, with little missus mistreatment, she might not have survived. Plus she had Sky to think of.
• We all agreed that the culture of early America was oppressive to not just the slaves but to women and men as well. We talked about the case of Thomas who wanted to be a minister but his father insisted that he follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer.
• Some members wanted a better ending. They needed to find out if Sky and Handful were okay and if they made it safely out of Charleston.
• Some of the members did not like the two different points of view and found it confusing and others liked the chance to understand the relationship between the two main characters from the two perspectives.
• Everyone in the group said that they would recommend the book but for those who read The Secret Life of Bees, they would recommend reading that novel first.

These are just a few things mentioned during the discussion. Please feel free to add any of your thoughts in the comment section.