To what extent do you find the book realistic?

[Adaeze Joan]

I thought that for the most part, the author did a good job in keeping the story realistic. Even before James and Lilly had a better relationship, James had listened to his father to maltreat her. That was definitely realistic of the times. It would have been hard for love to win over racism, but even that was realistic because there are real life examples of love winning over racism in those times.

[Abdullah daliath]

I found almost everything in the book quite comprehensive. Although their were some that did not make sense. A slave with no background of music cannot play the piano successfully. This is impossible.

[Ghuddie]

I caught myself sighing a couple of times as I read through the pages of the book, owing to how unrealistic some parts of it were. I've read works about the slave era, and the treatment of slaves is a lot worse than what I read from this book. For me, It reduced the quality of the book to an extent.

[Menace Crypto]

I believe the author did well to portray things concerning the slavery era. Violence, humiliation, fear, and other things were well represented. In times of all these hardships, it's also possible for someone to have a deep love for art like music. Although, some details like you mentioned about her lack of music background seems off.

[Kuchi Mercy]

The author did a good job at presenting a realistic story, however the part of Lily playing her master's piano with no prior tutorials in a slave era has my brow raised.

[Laura Britos]

Multiple sources of literature portray the slave trade era as not only physically overwhelming but also mentally anguishing as well. It, therefore, beats logic that Lily dared to sneak and play her master's piano whenever he was away. Her lack of music background further dents her excellent ability to play the codes out of her mnemonic abilities. Do you think the author should have at least made the few achievements of the slaves quite realistic? Which other episodes do you find as an outright contrast to the slave trade era?

I think that perhaps a lot more of historical references or knowledge would have make the book feel a lot more realistic. In addition, there is a plethora of information to look up on the internet in order to add a bit of more historical fiction to the book.

[Vidhi Adhikari]

As far as the relationship between James and Lily goes, the story does seem realistic and accurately portrays the conservative society I live in. However, James' ability to play the piano just out of memory did seem a little unrealistic to me

[OTrain D]

As much as what you have raised is valid, but there have always been people who have been brave enough to do dating things, and Lilly is one of that. So there mere fact that she was the only one, not many other slaves, is realistic and believable to me.

[Rizki Pradana]

I think it was quite realistic if you see how James treated his slave, Lily. For instance, things like reward and punishment were things that were seen as an outcast in the slave trade era.

[T T 2]

The book was not completely realistic, especially the slave trade part. It was too dramatized in the book thought I do get it that the book is pure fiction but still there should have been some real depiction of the struggles during the time of slavery.

[STabassum]

The story contains twin perspectives of realism and fiction. The horrifying slave culture and the maturity with which the author handles the theme is commendable. Moreover, the fictional love story premise added the twist in the tale but had its own share of realistic dose in terms of the relationship of the protagonists being dictated by the prevalence of slave codes at that time.

[Rayasaurus]

I think that Lily's natural inclination for music is fairly realistic, given that I also learned to play the piano mostly by ear. However, I think that her willingness to possibly get in huge trouble by actually playing the piano is unrealistic for a slave era.

[Asiaa Szn]

To an extent I found Lily's playing the piano without lessons a bit unrealistic and her relationship with James is questionable.

[brooke oakes]

There may have been a few exceptions here and there during the slave era, but they are not typically talked about. More often than not we hear the hard truths, though this story was not really along those lines. To be more realistic to what we hear of history, there are details like that of the piano that could have been changed to be more along the lines of what most people think about that era.

[Danielle Briggs]

I thought that the immediate acceptance of Lily as a performer once her show was seen seemed a bit unrealistic. Talented or not, she was still a black person in the times that people, even in "free states," were taught were inferior. I felt that more of the audience should have still been outraged at this, especially since they paid an entrance fee to the show and more of a negative reaction was needed.