Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First of all, let me apologize for any mistake I could make, but English is not my first language. The problem with this book is that it is an "historical novel". The author states she has made some research before writing it, and I'm sure she did, but still I find this book non-believable from an historic point of view. I'm not sure I completely like the author's style, but that was a grudge just in the beginning. The further I went, the more I had the feeling that the characters were just too modern. Women are pretty much threaten like equals by men, in this 1776 society. Women should have stayed at home and have children: this is something that is stated but not really applied. Women here read Shakespeare, know about Greek mythology and speak with men as their equals. They laugh, they joke, they engage in philosophical discussions, they are asked for advice on serious matters, they also go as far as to bath with them in the ocean. Even when they go around disguised as men, and they are discovered, none really cares much. There are no consequences and the whole subject is threaten as a joke. They are enrolled to take active part to fight for the cause and even when a mixed race child is born, none seems to really mind. Basically, the characters have a very modern mind. They behave and they think like people lived in 2016, more than in 1776. Unfortunately, the condition of women and black people in 1776 was very different. And this book doesn't portray it at all. If a mixed race child was so well accepted by the elite of the society, in 1776, it's hard to understand why black people in America should have needed Martin Luther King or Malcom X in the 20th century. Same with women, really, that were still very far from being considered "equals" to men. It wasn't fair, but that's the way it was and if you want to write an historical novel you have to remember it. The characters are not very well portrayed either. They are all a reflection of the author, but none of them stand by themselves. A great author gives the characters a life on their own. For example there is a character that starts very snobbish and ends up with a complete upturn of their condition. What happens it's not enough, in my opinion, to explain how we went from A to B. Same with the man the main character falls in love with. All of a sudden, she's in a desperate love for him. This is not a good characters' development, in my opinion. The author has a story in mind and she wants to write it no matter what, without LISTENING to her characters and what they really have to say. There's no real psychological research and, as a consequence, I felt no empathy. When I finish reading a book I'm normally sad, as it is as if all of a sudden I have to leave a universe I've learned to love. I finished this book yesterday and I don't have that feeling at all. I didn't empathizes with the characters enough to deeply love them - honestly, sometime I've found them annoying - and I didn't feel like I was in 1776 America. I'm sorry, the story could be interesting but the book, in my opinion, has a lot of faults. It would have been better to write a story set in modern time, as it would have been way more believable.