I was really looking forward to learning more about the Hemings family within the life of Thomas Jefferson. I did learn a lot that I didn't know and for that I am grateful, but unlike the book 'Warmth of Other Suns' which was great--this book had too much of the 'author' in it--you're trying to read it for the history and you keep hearing the authors attitude, and in many cases she took off on meaningless tangents about stuff and relationships she'd researched that just didn't add to the main focus of the Hemings family, just seemed to want to show off how much she'd researched. It would have been a tremendous book in literally HALF the size. The authors mind wasn't what I was interested in. Or her proving to us what an intellectual she is. Instead of feeling steeped in a beautiful historical non-fiction novel, I oftentimes felt sidetracked having to wait for her to get back to the story, and it became irritating enough to keep putting me to sleep in those parts. Reading other reviews, I was happy to see I wasn't the only one who felt that way. After doing so much of that, it became a slugfest to finish the book.

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