Ponder: House of Eve

House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson ©2023 tells the story of two young black women. Ruby is in high school striving to win a scholarship to college and become an optometrist. Eleanor, slightly older, is in an all Negro college as a history major and is aiming to specialize in a field she loves as a library archivist. Both come from poor backgrounds and will be the first in their respective families to earn a college degree. Both women struggled with unplanned pregnancies complicating their lives.

Since this is a black-themed novel, prejudices were to be anticipated; but I found the story stereotypical and predictable. Note: stereotypical and predictable do not equate to acceptable. In raising awareness to the plight of blacks, however, I encountered only one bias I found to be a surprise and that came from an unexpected source. Eleanor had stellar grades and a great deal of community service to her credit when she applied to be a member of Alpha Beta Chi, a campus sorority. She was rejected because her skin was too dark and her hair was not straight enough. This  example did make me question if internal racial prejudices are also an issue.

Eleanor married into a fiscally privileged lifestyle but still suffered from emotional snubbing due to skin color. Ruby struggled financially and suffered physically from biases in a home for unwed mothers. House of Eve was an angst filled book, and far from pleasurable. The minimal insight I gained into the plight of the Negro did not offset the drudgery of the read. House of Eve was a recommendation of the Reese Witherspoon Book, whose selections I usually like; Amazon rated this book 4.5 stars out of 5. Both of these indicators let my down. I rate House of Eve...

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it