I have come to expect so much more from Ann Rinaldi. She was the first author to introduce me to the world of historical fiction. When I first started to read vigorously my aunt gifted me with the Ann Rinaldi book 'an aquantice with darkness" and after that I moved through the rest of her series rather rapidly. My favorite one to this day would be a 'break with charity' which explored the Salem witch trials. All of the novels that I have read by Rinaldi so far have female narrators, and "Or give me Death" was the first novel of hers to have a dual narrator over the course of the story. Even though I liked this book less then I did Rinaldi's other works I will admit that it was probably one of her more original works when it comes to narrative style. The story is that of Patrick Henry's family on Patrick Henrys path to governor. The story is narrated in sections by the two different daughters. The first part of the tale belongs to Patsy, the oldest daughter, and the second part is left to Anne the wild middle child. These two girls live in a world of secrets but the biggest secret, the one that threatens to consume them, is their mothers (Sara Henrys) madness. This madness slowly infects the whole family, in tell Patrick Henry has his wife locked away in the cellar at the bottom of the house. This does not keep her from predicting the future. These prophecies all seem to come true which sends Patsy into a panic as she wonders whether she herself will inherit her mothers madness. Yet it is Anne who Sara Henry releases to secret to. Anne then hides the truth telling Patsy that it is herself, Anne who will inherit their mothers "bad blood" and mental fragility. After this point the narrative switches over to Anne entirely, and the rest of the novel is spent with Anne fighting the control of her older sister and raising horses with her brother John. Sara Henry passes away shortly into Anne's narration. War is breaking out within the colonies and John, and Patsy's husband MyJohn are sent away to fight. While John is away Patrick Henry marries Dorothea his son's sweetheart, and this sends John to madness. We find out in the final pages that Anne has been lying all around and it is not in fact her who carries the madness but her brother John. She confesses this truth to Peggy, the negro slave who has accompanied the family throughout the story. Anne is left to wonder what would have happened if she had simply told the truth instead of covering up John's bad blood. Would her brother still be alive? Ultimate the book seems to deal less with History then it does the difference between truth and deception. Rinaldi frequently draws upon the theme of deception and she does this so boldly that sometimes it can be overwhelming to the reader. We have Anne repeatedly talking about the lies within the Henry house and how it impacts her. I would have liked to see more of the outside world and the colonial world leak into the house, but rather as a reader I was trapped inside the madness and lies of the Henry household. This was a drama more then a historical fiction. I give it 2 stars because I do love Rinaldi and have loved all her other novels. However this one just happened to fall short of the ball park. On a final note it is important to mention that Rinaldi fleshes out the end of her novel with a short conclusion where she reasons out all the events within her book. THIS BOOK IS FICTION. That is all the epilogue proves. All of the lines that Rinaldi draws between the story that she has created and the actual world are whimsy and nothing else. Everything is a bit of a stretch ( especially the part where Rinaldi tries to reason that Henry Patrick stole the most famous part of his "give me liberty or give me death" speech from his own wives mouth)
This was my first Ann Rinaldi, and I have several more of her books that I look forward to reading. I'm always a little skeptical about reading juvenile fiction, historical or otherwise, at this stage of my life, but this was an engaging read. Rinaldi is a self-made writer. She was groomed for that position with years of reading and writing in her job as a newspaper columnist. Her interest in historical fiction was fed from the urging of her son and her participation in his various interests in historical reenactments. All combined together was fodder for her pursuit into juvenile / young adult historical fiction.This story of Patrick Henry's family was unknown to me, and I found myself thinking about it at times when I wasn't reading it. That's always a good sign that the book has grabbed me. Even though the story was engaging, it was sad, a sadness that hangs like a cloud of poison gas around a family trying to do the best they know how during a challenging time in American history. Rinaldi explains in the afterward which parts are true and which parts she fictionalized for the sake of the story. This helped to clarify the history for me. I'm glad I read the afterward first and then again at the end of the book.I have several other Rinaldi books to read, ones that I had stocked my classroom library with but came home with me when I did. After I finish them all, they will go onto a homeschooling sale board to move on to another's shelves.
This is the story of Patrick Henry's family told from the perspectives of his two older daughters Patsy and Anne. Their mother Sarah has gone mad and the story begins with her attempting to drown Edward the newest arrival to the family. Patsy is betrothed but worries of inheriting her mother's sickness. Anne, younger than her has been told by their mother which child will inherit her madness. Anne then struggles through the book with questions about when to tell the truth and when to lie in order to protect those you love. I love Ann Rinaldi novels! It is clear to see that she does her research. At the end of the novel she includes a note about the actual occurences and where she put in her own spins and additions. She even includes a bibliography at the end citing where she obtained her information. It was really interesting to see inside the family that Patrick Henry, a very influencial man in the proceedings of the American Revolution, was dealt and would return to. A family with such great stress that the cares of the nation at the time almost seemed less.
—Kayna Olsen
This is very possibly my least favorite of all Ann Rinaldi books I've come across. I wasn't overly impressed with the writing, the story line, or the characters. I never felt a true connection to the characters, and the girl who narrated the story in the beginning was obnoxious. I never liked her, and it is hard to enjoy a story when you don't like who is talking to you. I know it's probably pretty shallow- but if I listen to someone talking, and I don't like their speaking voice, I won't like them as a person. That's how I felt about Patsy. Oh my goodness, Shut up! I also thought that having the story abruptly shift from Patsy to Anne weakened an already soft story. It damaged what little support the story had. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if it had been only one daughter narrate, or if it had been a regular shift back and forth. The abrupt change was awkward, and did very little to enhance the story. Overall, it just wasn't a favorite, and I thought that it could have used some work. An interesting idea that just didn't go very far.
—Ashley
The idea behind Or Give me Death is based on the real lives of Patrick Henry's family. The mom in the family (named Sara, which gave me the willies) goes crazy. Of course, this is 1774, and there's no mental health care to be found. Instead, the family refurbishes their cellar and locks her down there. She spends four years (FOUR YEARS!) locked in the cellar before she dies. AGH!The story is told from the POV of the eldest two of Sara's daughters, but I think that was an authorial mistake. The story would have been much stronger if it had been told either from one POV or from the POVs of all of the women in the story (6 or 7 of them), especially if Rinaldi had made room for Pegg, the oldest female house slave.I did like that there was no melodrama about the slaves. They were presented as real people in impossible situations (including Sara thinking they were poisoning her, beatings, and the constant, grinding labor to which they were subjected), and that was a relief. I also liked the feeling of oppressive social mores that formed the lives of the women. They lived under a burden of 'propriety' that confined everything they did. Girls, if you think you have it bad, you should read this book!Overall, this isn't a bad effort, especially because it sticks strictly to the facts that are known about the lives of Patrick Henry and his family. In the back of the book, there's an author comment section in which she freely admits which parts of her subjects' lives are embroidered.
—Sara
