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There are currently 44 member reviews
for Take My Hand
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Carol J. (Isle, MN)
Great historical insight
"Take My Hand" introduced me to another aspect of America's history that tends to go unnoticed. As a retired nurse I found the book exceptionally compelling.
The back and forth between present and past provided insight into the long term trauma that effects all involved in a tough situation.
Most of us know something about the Tuskegee experiments, but this book tells us about another experiment/procedures carried out on poor women, especially black women.
It is worthwhile to consider how most of the issues brought to light in this book still exist today. Maybe sterilization isn't so widely practiced, but lack of access to reproductive care effects many women and contributes to poverty.
This book is well worth a read and great book for discussion.
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Amy A. (Buffalo, NY)
A great book about a sad moment in our history
Take My Hand is an easy to read novel about a little known time (at least to me) in American history where eugenics was practiced by the United States government on African-American, poor white, mentally ill, and disabled women.
The book is loosely based on the true story of the Relf sisters and the legal case that ensued against the US government. The sisters, who were 12 and 14 years old in 1973, were involuntarily sterilized by a federally funded family planning clinic in Montgomery, Alabama.
Take My Hand would be a great book for a book club discussion. It raises so many ethical topics such as disparities in health care, economic inequalities and the history of dubious practices based on "helping others".
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Karla M. (Bolton, MA)
Excellet Fictionalization of a Historical Story
I really enjoyed this book, the characters were all really well developed and the story was very engaging. I liked the historic aspect of the novel; I had no idea that these events took place in the past. I think this would be a great book for a college course, it's so important to not forget about events like this.
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Mary Ann S. (Virginia Beach, VA)
An important book
This book is the fictionalized story of 2 girls (and they were girls) sterilized, without consent, only after being used as human guinea pigs for a birth control drug. Sadly, it is based in truth and happened to tens of thousands more girls/women. The book's main character, Civil, was a nurse in a family planning clinic and she met the girls and their family as part of her job of ensuring they were on birth control, even though they weren't sexually active. She did her best to protect, support and uplift the little girls and their family while learning, sometimes painfully, that she was not the family's decider. There were lots of things I wish the book had included – why did Civil decide to become a physician, what caused her to adopt a child, how did she get her name, what were the aftereffects from the trial, etc. However, knowing, or not knowing, these details did not take away from the primary story. I believe this is an important book because of the subject matter. I am not sure why this isn't as well known as the Tuskegee experiment, but maybe this book will help to change that. It will be a great bookclub choice (I'll be recommending it to mine.)
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Windell H. (Rock Hill, SC)
Take My Hand
This book brings forth another part of US history that is dark and frightening. We still feel repercussions today of the people who been affected. Minorities and the poor have always been a stigma on "normal" society. What better way lessen their impact than forced birth control. This is a sad and disturbing story of how a fictional family dealt with this practice. Based on current and historical events this story portrays how one family suffered through a trial that exposed this most unethical practice sanctioned by the government. I would recommend this novel for book club discussion.
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Peggy H. (North East, PA)
Covers all the bases
This book hits many topical issues...control over a woman's body, mental health issues, abortion, eugenics, drug testing on poor uneducated people. Based on a real court case in Alabama. It is an upsetting story told in the form of a road trip with flashbacks. I would have rated the book higher except I had difficulty relating to the main character and her lack of insight into her own feelings. Her decision to finally move from being a nurse to doctor is glossed over.
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GM
Enjoyed, but wished for more.
I enjoyed learning about a chapter of American history not often explored in novel form. Some characters were well developed, especially the sisters at the center of the legal controversy and their grandmother. But I was left wanting to read deeper into the lives of Civil's parents, the relationship between Ty and Civil and Civil's therapy experience to resolve her issues with childbearing and motherhood. Things were just a little too spelled out at times or glossed over. But overall, this story and this book could easily be placed on a high school reading list to teach about the forced sterilization that happened to poor black children in the south and still happening in other places of our society today.
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