Chains

Leyla Duymazlar
Chains
Period 4
Laurie Halse Anderson
Historical Fiction
320 pages
9.8

Imagine the nightmare of having everything taken away from you, stripped of your identity and your rights and losing the one person that means everything in the world to you. This is what happened to Isabel, a pretty “privileged” teenage girl in the twenty first century. Although Isabel is a fictional character, this could truly happen to an unsuspecting person. However, as Isabel's strength grew page to page, she found it in her to continue on with her life - through the nightmare of loss, torture and heartbreak.

Isabel is a teenage slave living in a loyalist household in New York, trying to find her way. The story takes place during the Revolution of America, when the rebels are fighting for the freedom of our people. Isabel is a headstrong individual fighting for her survival and that of her epileptic sister, Ruth. As soon as Isabel steps off the boat in New York, after attending the funeral of her beloved master, she learns what life as a slave to the Locktons will be like. For example, she will learn it is common to be slapped for a misdemeanor. She will, however, makes an unlikely friend that helps her through the days. It is with a red hat she calls Curzon. She begins to settle into her new life. Living with the Locktons is very hard, harder then she thought it ever could be. All she cares about is freedom. The question is, how far will she go to get what she wants?

I truly love how Laurie Halse Anderson portrays her characters as well as the storyline. Her characters all seem to be real and easily relatable to modern times. Anyone of them could walk down the street today. None of her characters are perfect and each are flawed in their own way. I enjoy reading historical fiction, enjoying the journey it takes me on, whether it be learning about the horrors of the Holocaust or reading about the Salem Witch Trials. After reading Leah’s opinion on this book I thought it would be a good fit. Ms. Anderson should really start writing more historical fiction. I have read a lot of her books, like Winter Girls, Fever, Twisted, and Speak but this one was really magnificent. It was excellently researched, and even with some of the artistic license the author took, it seemed very realistic. Her stories are gripping and timeless and she has become one of my favorite authors. As I was reading the book I "became" Isabel, walking the streets of New York in the year of 1776. This was a very good read, and I recommend it highly.