A SITTING IN ST. JAMES

A SITTING IN ST. JAMES by Rita Williams-Garcia

This is one I quit. YAfter I read the first chapters and realized where we were headed, I did a short flip through for confirmation. Yep. This book contains about every type of graphic sexual relationship you can imagine. This is a YA read, and it is disturbing. Heterosexual sex, homosexual sex, rape, oral sex, and after reading Amazon comments incest. No warnings on the book about the content.

A Sitting in St. James takes place in 1860 on a Louisiana plantation and focuses on the Guilbert family, the owners of the plantation. This book is essentially an exposure of their disgusting lifestyle. Now don't get me wrong, it is proven that slaves were sexually abused. It was more common than we would like to think, and it was completely wrong. This author takes us right into the heart of the matter. I get that. although personally, I could go without the visual descriptions. But that's not where it stops. We deal with sex of a minor at a whorehouse, orphan sexual abuse including oral sex, homosexual relationships, and I didn't physically read the incest parts, but supposedly incest. Maybe I am super naive and don't know my history, and if that is correct please feel free to point me in the direction of historical documentation that this is how the traditional southern family lived. I am always up for learning.

I flipped to the back where the author shares her thoughts. This should be telling enough about this book. In the second paragraph Williams-Garcia shares a story about a daydream she had while doing a residency at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She says," I daydreamed about a white West Point Cadet grooming his horse. I realized his sensual brush strokes were about his longing for his love, a fellow cadet." I'll just leave it at that.