This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Jennifer Joyce
When Benjamin returns home after the war, he goes straight to the farm in Grinder’s Corner, Alabama where he grew up. While Benjamin was away, his mother passed away, so his father has been working on the farm alone. Benjamin is determined to help Otis and together they make the farm profitable again. When Benjamin meets Delia, he thinks life is pretty perfect. There isn’t much in Grinder’s Corner, but he has the woman he loves and a loving home. But then one night tragedy strikes and Benjamin’s perfect life is shattered.
Set in Alabama in the 1940s and 50s, Passing Through Perfect tells the story of Benjamin as he struggles through life, scratching a living while dealing with prejudices and segregation. The story is told simply, but it’s quite powerful. Segregation isn’t always at the forefront of the book, but it’s always there in the background, waiting to rear its ugly head as Benjamin tries to make his way in life. One of the hardest and most emotional aspects of the book for me was Benjamin’s attitude towards segregation. I was angered by the attitude of some of the characters within the book, but for Benjamin it was the norm. He doesn’t fight it, just simply accepts that this is the way life is.
Passing Through Perfect is quite a poignant tale, full of loss and hardship, but there are glimmers of kindness and you can see that change is on the horizon. It took me a little while to really get into the story due to the simplistic storytelling, but by the end I was truly captivated by Benjamin and his story.
I felt like the book could almost have been split into two parts and it was the second half that really grabbed me. By the end I was rooting for Benjamin and hoped that he would find some sort of happy ending.8/10