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A review by juliana_reads
The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash
5.0
I really loved this book, which is not surprising because 1) I loved Wiley's other two books and 2) he's a fellow UNC Asheville alum (go Bulldogs!).
'The Last Ballad' tells the true story of Ella May Wiggins, a mill worker who unintentionally becomes the leader of the local textile workers labor movement in 1920's Gaston County, North Carolina. The plot weaves together multiple perspectives, all of which connect back to the overall movement for equality in the post-Civil War South.
At first I was thrown off that almost every chapter introduced a new character, but I caught on and understood how each individual was connected to Ella and the strike in some way. Just goes to show the big impact of small actions. The alternating perspectives also allowed for more than one voice to be represented: a black Communist, a mill owner and his wife and daughter, textile workers, the police...
This book also has some of my favorite elements of a good story: politics, history, a setting with which I am familiar (eastern TN all the way down 26 to upstate SC), and strong female characters. I absolutely loved Ella, and I almost wish there were more chapters from her perspective.
Some of my favorite Ella lines:
-"You're telling me that the men keep all the guns and stand around by themselves at headquarters while the women march? That don't make no sense."
-"'What do you think of our strike so far?' he asked.
'I think it's white,' Ella said."
-And of course, when she was asked if she was a capitalist and she answered that she didn't have any capital to speak of lol
If you follow Wiley on social media, you know that he is very vocal about politics. He posts almost daily about the nonsense coming out of Washington. Sometimes, authors talk the talk, but you don't see their 'progressivism' in the stories they choose to tell. Or, alternatively, they don't talk about politics openly at all, which limits their books and the discussions one can have about them. Wiley shows through this book that he's willing to step up to the plate and give voices to characters that otherwise would be voiceless. Furthermore, the characters are authentic and well-researched (which is to say, he didn't fall into the trap of a white male author writing about non-white, non-male characters who are flat or stereotypical).
I'm so glad I finally had the chance to read this book. I highly recommend it.
'The Last Ballad' tells the true story of Ella May Wiggins, a mill worker who unintentionally becomes the leader of the local textile workers labor movement in 1920's Gaston County, North Carolina. The plot weaves together multiple perspectives, all of which connect back to the overall movement for equality in the post-Civil War South.
At first I was thrown off that almost every chapter introduced a new character, but I caught on and understood how each individual was connected to Ella and the strike in some way. Just goes to show the big impact of small actions. The alternating perspectives also allowed for more than one voice to be represented: a black Communist, a mill owner and his wife and daughter, textile workers, the police...
This book also has some of my favorite elements of a good story: politics, history, a setting with which I am familiar (eastern TN all the way down 26 to upstate SC), and strong female characters. I absolutely loved Ella, and I almost wish there were more chapters from her perspective.
Some of my favorite Ella lines:
-"You're telling me that the men keep all the guns and stand around by themselves at headquarters while the women march? That don't make no sense."
-"'What do you think of our strike so far?' he asked.
'I think it's white,' Ella said."
-And of course, when she was asked if she was a capitalist and she answered that she didn't have any capital to speak of lol
If you follow Wiley on social media, you know that he is very vocal about politics. He posts almost daily about the nonsense coming out of Washington. Sometimes, authors talk the talk, but you don't see their 'progressivism' in the stories they choose to tell. Or, alternatively, they don't talk about politics openly at all, which limits their books and the discussions one can have about them. Wiley shows through this book that he's willing to step up to the plate and give voices to characters that otherwise would be voiceless. Furthermore, the characters are authentic and well-researched (which is to say, he didn't fall into the trap of a white male author writing about non-white, non-male characters who are flat or stereotypical).
I'm so glad I finally had the chance to read this book. I highly recommend it.