The Rib King

A Novel

By: Ladee Hubbard

Narrated by: Korey Jackson, Adenrele Ojo

“Ladee Hubbard’s voice is a welcome original.” (Mary Gaitskill)

Upstairs, Downstairs meets Parasite: The acclaimed author of The Talented Ribkins deconstructs painful African American stereotypes and offers a fresh and searing critique on race, class, privilege, ambition, exploitation, and the seeds of rage in America in this intricately woven and masterfully executed historical novel, set in early the 20th century that centers around the Black servants of a down-on-its heels upper-class White family.

For 15 years August Sitwell has worked for the Barclays, a well-to-do White family who plucked him from an orphan asylum and gave him a job. The groundskeeper is part of the household’s all-Black staff, along with “Miss Mamie”, the talented cook, pretty new maid Jennie Williams, and three young kitchen apprentices - the latest orphan boys Mr. Barclay has taken in to "civilize" boys like August.

But the Barclays fortunes have fallen, and their money is almost gone. When a prospective business associate proposes selling Miss Mamie’s delicious rib sauce to local markets under the brand name “The Rib King” - using a caricature of a wildly grinning August on the label - Mr. Barclay, desperate for cash, agrees. Yet neither Miss Mamie nor August will see a dime. Humiliated, August grows increasingly distraught, his anger building to a rage that explodes in shocking tragedy.

Elegantly written and exhaustively researched, The Rib King is an unsparing examination of America’s fascination with Black iconography and exploitation that redefines African American stereotypes in literature. In this powerful, disturbing, and timely novel, Ladee Hubbard reveals who people actually are, and most importantly, who and what they are not.

©2021 Ladee Hubbard (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

surprise, surprise

Almost like reading 2 books in 1. I'll admit that it started off slow, however there are loose ends that you want answers for. When those loose ends get those answers, you can then say "ok, now I see”

Makes me wonder about a bunch of products

The Rib King Highlighted Black exploitation and stereotypes puts me in the mindfulness of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben's. It also talks about privilege among the black race and the backstabbing taken place while the upper white class watches and profits from it. August Sitwell the main culprit has backstabbed his way to his position, even killed many. He has face pasted on a sauce bottle that he took the credit for from the actual cook, "Miss Mamie". He didn't account for one of the people he killed to be alive, but Jennie survived. Not only did she survived but she flourish and is now in his face ready to kill him or trying to get him to turn himself in. Now I'm not going to tell y'all the whole story, so go ahead and read it. You'll be glad you did. #Book34of2021 #Bookworm #what'snext

All Over the Place and a Discombobulated Mess

The plot twist about one third into the story is the only redeeming aspect of this book, and the reason I rated it a two instead of a one. The story was all over the place and discombobulated on a number of levels, and the ending and Mrs. Livingston’s involvement (not getting into detail here, to not spoil the ending for those who haven’t read the book) did not integrate with the initial 99 percent of the story, was not well-developed, and was altogether ridiculous.

I usually only rate books I enjoy and rarely (if ever) write a negative review, but had to make an exception here as I do not understand the higher ratings. This book did motivate me to finally start working on a novel, because it seems to be successful and I know I could write a better novel than this.

Anticlimactic

I wish I could get my money back. It was very poorly written, and the narration was not very good.

Boring narration

I really struggled with getting into this. The narration was boring. Better reading it on Kindle. Save your Audible credit.