This dealt with some very important issues and was interesting however I didn’t really connect with the writing style and found it quite slow paced.

I liked this book for what it was and what it tried to do. The writing read very awkwardly. I absolutely did not like how many racial slurs were used in this book, especially considering the author is white.

The Empty Cell by Paulette Alden is about race relations in the 50s and 60s and follows the story of several characters in the aftermath of the lynching of a Black man. The premise of the book is an interesting one, although the book was slow moving in parts, and I struggled to finish it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

The Empty Cell is a remarkable story written in the historical fiction style that succeeds on many levels. This is a window into race relations in the late 50's early 60's where a mob lynching is a catalyst for questioning one's place in society by both sides of the fence. There are some hard lessons encountered on their journeys which at the time made this reader have to stop and reflect on certain issues.
This story could not have been written at a more opportune moment with the BLM movement news almost daily making headlines that have become liken to lancing a boil that has been festering.
There is an old Czech saying roughly translated. "Hope is the last thing to die'. For me, this sums up this story.
This is an independent review thanks to NetGalley.

Oh, this started off so well! The beginning--depicting the lynching of a Black man in the American South--is strong and attention-grabbing and nuanced, and tightly written. But the drama of the beginning doesn't continue. The author uses the lynching and trial as points of departure for multiple characters: a young woman, her gay father, a poor and abused Black woman. But these characters fall into stereotypes, and their lives become cliched rather than revelatory. Alma, a Black woman who helped raise the man who was lynched, leaves her abusive husband and goes to New York in search of a better life, but there too she's abused and becomes an alcoholic, finally returning to the South in shame. Betsy leaves the South for New York where she has a Black lover; her attraction is complicated with white fragility and their relationship falls apart. This comes across like the author expects us to find their relationship daring and bold, but it's just dysfunctional. Betsy's father slowly emerges from the closet but it's made very clear that he's neither one of those "limp-wristed gays" nor interested in rough trade, no, he's still a "man," meaning: he passes for straight and that's a good thing. Despite its opening, which promised a thoughtful novel about race, instead this book is a retread of Peyton Place.

The Empty Cell is a novel set in Greenville centred around the true story of the lynching of Willie Earle, Alden has then created a fictional world and characters based on that event.

The author writes from the perspective of several characters; Alma, Lydia, Lionel, Lee and Bessie. I felt that this was one of the best traits of the novel as it allowed the reader to get to know each character, their secrets, their internal and external thoughts and provide an overview of the differences the black, white and queer characters face within the story. I did feel however that several of the characters had more to give in particular Lionel and Alma, it sometimes felt like it would have read better as a story either solely around race, sexuality or alcoholism. Alden has introduced lots of significant issues but then it feels like they are barely touched on and just there to try and pad the novel out.

I struggled with the pace and text used, it was very slow at points and difficult to remain engaged with. There were a lot of awkward and cringe-worthy moments in the novel, I'm not sure if this was the authors intention but sometimes I found myself trying to skim read it because it felt so awkward.

I think the author is trying to something positive with The Empty Cell by engaging the reader in Willie Earle and Alma's lives and trying to give them an insight into the inequality at the time, I don't doubt that there are some people who will really enjoy the novel. I however have given it 3 stars as I found it hard-work to read.

I enjoyed the structure of this book - beginning with a singular event, and then traveling through the events that followed from the perspective of several different characters whose lives wove together in different ways. Unfortunately, the pace of the book was slow, and I had trouble connecting with the characters. I also believe that I had trouble connecting because I don't have any shared experiences with the characters - not having a connection to the South, that time period, or the experience of being a minority race. That is no fault of the author, and I think this book will more deeply resonate with others than it did with me. I still am pleased that I read it as it was a "window" book that allowed me to learn more about a time period I have not read much about.

This book was free and sent to me as an ARC on NetGalley. However, all reviews are of my own opinions.

When I picked this up I didn’t realise it was a true story (my mistake). I struggled a lot with this book, the writing style was hard and I couldn’t gel well with the characters. When I read the description, I thought thy this book was going to concentrate a lot more on the case and the trial. I felt like that was short lived. I felt like the research done around law was quite poor. For example, B v B would be written like that but when expressing it out loud it would be B against B. Not B versus B. Little things like that really make me disconnect from the story.

I found it somewhat educational, hearing the story from different POC and how their lifestyle was back in the 1900’s. I quite liked Alma but I feel like her story had much more to give. It was bordering on romance. I feel like this book would have been much stronger had it only followed one of the story lines. It was difficult to get into the story with the writing style changing for characters.

However, now I have finished the book, I am aware it is based on a true-story, which may understand my difficulty with it - I don’t often get on well with historical books.

While I appreciate that the author had good intentions in writing this novel, I am not sure that they came through in the writing. I read it relatively quickly, but did not particularly enjoy it. It was an easy read and the writing is very descriptive, but there are many moments of awkwardness.

Although I thought the character "Lee" was well-done, the excessive racial slurs from his chapters were uncomfortable to read. I also did not like any of the characters and found them to be rather weak, their journeys unsatisfying. I didn’t find either the black woman or the queer man to be written in a convincing manner. There was also quite a bit of writing that made me cringe , particularly in regards to describing someone’s skin color or sex/desire. It wasn’t enough to make me put the book down, but it was more than enough to cause an eye-roll or a groan each time.

As every chapter, or even every event/exchange in the novel is tied to race, it feels a bit forced, making it seem as if these characters never had thoughts independent of racism in the country. Overall, I just did not find it to be a rewarding read and questioned what the motive was behind writing the novel.

It is not a book I will be recommending.