The Personal Librarian: A GMA Book Club Pick Hardcover – June 29, 2021

It was very intriguing to find out it was inspired by a person in history. I like reading novels where I learn something. Her relationships and the way she had to balance both worlds really pulled me in! I liked how the authors bright me into the main character’s thinking!For the more cautious readers on graphic scenes and language, The love scenes(I think about 1or 2) weren’t too graphic. It mentions breast and a word muttered in a different language at the height of intercourse, but I thought the scene wasn’t too graphic and relatively well done. That’s important to me as a reader. That is, to be able to enjoy a book without all the graphic nature of love scenes. I applaud the authors for being balanced in that area. The book did have cursing, but it wasn’t consistent. It wasn’t one of those books where every other word is a curse word. The love scene and the language did not distract away from the main content of the book. Congrats authors!

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Robin Miles (also narrated “Just as I Am” by Cicely Tyson), and enjoyed it. This was the March selection for my book club (AAABDG). An historical account of Belle da Costa Greene.Genevieve, Belles' mother, having to create a Portuguese grandmother to disguise their Black heritage was a covert operation for the entire fate of the family. Teaching was the most common and revered profession for blacks during the time period, Belle’s mother was pro advocate for her becoming a teacher while her father envisioned Belle as a historian or arts scholar. It was her father that laid the groundwork for her career as personal librarian to J.P. Morgan. Belle taught herself Latin, and became very knowledgeable in an exclusively male world of art and rare book dealer.The chapters are short which makes for faster reading. I had moments of elation, sadness, joy, awe and admiration. I asked myself why was Belle a personal librarian and not titled a curator or dealer of antiquities, paintings, manuscripts and artifacts, and did J.P. Morgan feel about Blacks the same way he felt about Jews? The story takes place in 1905-1948 and follows Belle from city to city and country to country.Belle’s father sides with the views of Booker T. Washington, regarding his strategies with business owners and politicians and Willie DuBoise, in his views on his plans for the advancement of NAACP, in which mirrored his stance. The comparison between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. This was also mentioned in “A Pair of Wings” by Carole Hopson, in which blacks were siding with the philosophy of one or the other to determine their path of equality. It is a true and honest fact that many blacks owe their light skin to the sexual violence inflicted on enslaved black women by their white masters, and chose to pass as white as the best option to enhance their lifestyle for better housing, better jobs and pay, and equality. It meant estrangement from their families.I was not particularly pleased with Belle's romance with Berenson (a Lithuanian born Jew) whom harbored secrets of his own, as they were involved in a long term relationship. I was conflicted in whether he was truly in love with Belle or was he using her intellect and insights to gain advantages to his own art dealings.This novel was written during a pandemic, and racial injustice with the murder of George Floyd in 2021 in which the Civil Rights Act in 1883 that ushered in Jim Crow segregation and gave white supremacy and racial discrimination legal cover, the ramifications of which are felt to this day in 2022. There are still few opportunities open to blacks or anyone classified as nonwhite. As of 2022 we are striving to vote the first African American female Judge in the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, but with much opposition.Overall, I learned a lot about the are world, travel to other countries during this era, especially for blacks, the culture during the Guilded Age Era, many historical places and people. I will value this read as a learning experience and highly recommend this book to bibliophiles, art historians, and history buffs. I look forward to doing more research into Belle da Costa Greene's life by reading some of the recommended material: "Am Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege" by Heidi Ardizzone, and "The White Problem" by Belle's father, Richard Greener.

And at what price did she build it?By choosing to heed her mother’s advice, Belle chose to risk identifying as being a white woman in public, during post the Reconstruction era. To any non-black person, Belle’s light skin, anglicized name, and her love of art history played into the elite white psyche. They blindly decided that she is one of their own.During the time capture in this novel (1905 to 1924), and after the Dyer Bill was filibustered in 1877, blacks who tried to have agency were deemed disrespectful, out of their place and only worthy of being lynched. In particular, the filibuster argument was that they needed to be able to lynch the freed blacks to protect their white women from being raped.So, when Belle’s mother insisted that they all change their name, and identify in every way to the public as having a Portuguese heritage, Belle’s fate was chosen for her.And because a daughter’s first mirror is her mother, Belle studied who she needed to be, how she needed to maintain decorum, and how to talk in a way that black women weren’t and aren’t free to talk amongst wealthy businessmen.She studied how to be coquettish, how to think on her feet, and to deflect whenever necessary. Each successful business transaction and interaction became a cause set in motion towards her simultaneously being more visible to society and more at risk for getting caught. The price of which would impact not only her livelihood, but also that of her mother and siblings.It was interesting to “watch” the struggles that she went through over her question of whether she should have followed her mother’s path, or that of her father, which was the antithesis of her mother’s focus. Her father fought for civil rights, because he believed that some day black folks would be judge by their character. Yet, her mom, based upon witnessing every day blacks being lynched to death for their desire to be integrated socially, politically and economically, in her mind, it was only possible to be successful and free if their entire family takes advantage of looking white by choosing to be white.While reading this book, at first, I wanted to side with Belle’s dad, because to me, owning your voice, being your authentic self gives you peace of mind. Identifying as someone who you are not has always meant to me as lying to myself and destroying the chance of align your personality with your soul. I also saw the pressure Belle lived with when her father left the family because he could no longer live in the dichotomy of “Choose to be white to be successful”, or “Choose to be black to own our right to matter” that existed.Of course, my mindset was based upon living in a freeing society that 1877 to 1924 did not know. Also, we have the benefit born out of the Belle’s in our history, to speak up and be heard. Yet, one hundred years later, June 2024, black women, or any person of color, much modulate their approach to success according to societal unspoken rules.Yes. Belle built the J.P. Morgan wealth by choosing to be white, at the price of her own peace of mind. As a white woman, she could name a price of art, negotiate with old cronies, and close the deal as if she just bent her arm. That wouldn’t have happened had she identified as a black woman, back then. The wealth that she amassed for the Piermont Librarian counted upon her ability to not only study art, network with the best in the business, but also study what it meant to be an influential white woman. If she was going to have to abandon her ethnicity for the sake of her immediate family, she was going have to perpetually study being who she needed to be, and who, as a white woman, she would have licensed to be. She wasn’t free to look a black servant in the eye, for fear that they would report her to the public as being one of them. The only way she saw her biological family was through carefully planned trips that were out of the view of the socially elite.Ultimately, she mastered the public persona, though she struggled with the lie she had to continually nourish and preserve.Like “The First Ladies”, this was an excellently written book that truly helped me to be part of U.S. History.One hilarious moment that reading this book in public was: after waiting a bit for my banker to be available, seeing me reading this book in my hand, she asked, “What are you reading?” My enthusiastic response was, “Oh this is a great historical novel about how a black woman 100 years ago made J.P. Morgan’s wealth.”The look on her face was priceless.

This was a chosen book from participation in a book club. I was immediatelydrawn into the story, which kept my attention until the end. I loved the format, withshort chapters, each headed with a date, which made the time line easier to follow.

This was an enlightening and enjoyable book. It was interesting to learn the view from a black individual passing as Caucasian

I liked this book, didn’t love it. I love historical fiction and I enjoyed the history and art in the book. It was a book club book and I appreciate reading something I might not have read otherwise.

This is an informative book that touches on a topic many people won't have the perspective on. Well written and researched with limited material available. A great read.

Es una historia novelada pero los personajes existieron. Muy entretenida. La lees muy rápido

Very informative about those times when the colour of your skin mattered more than your ability to do a job. Well written book and the author weaves a wonderful story of the life of an amazing and determined woman.

Sin ser una novela perfecta, cuenta una historia tan interesante y en una época tan difícil para las personas de color, que la he leído con mucho interés hasta el final.Recomendable

However the book was not badly written, it feels as if the authors couldn't decide what to put in the book and where to put emphasis on.Is it the pieces of art/the manuscripts? Or is it the segregation? Or is it the love affair? It was a bit too much of everything, therefore a bit messy.So, I finished the book because I obliged myself and it wasn't bad. But certainly not a favorite.Since I can't rate 3,5 stars, I'm giving 3.