Reviews tagging 'Death'

Barracoon: The Story of the Last Slave by Zora Neale Hurston

19 reviews

pjrusen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Slavery

pinkalpaca's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

crazytourists_books's review

dark informative sad medium-paced

3.0

Is it the content I expected? No. 
Is this an extremely important book for the African-American history? Yes.
Did I struggle to read it? Yes. 
Did my heart ache for this man (and  the thousands of others, men, women, children, like him)? Of course. 
Did I like it? Unfortunately not.
Would I recommend it? Yes, it's historical, and/or laographical value is huge. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lindsayerin's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Grief

clarabooksit's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Murder

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.25

Barracoon relates the story of Kossula – one of the last Black men to be sold into slavery from Africa to the United States. This biography is an interestingly formatted one, more a collection of afternoon conversations than a traditional biography. For the content of this biography, I think that style is perfect.

Kossula’s story is woven with his history, day-to-day, and stories. Some day, Hurston would barely converse with him at all which other days, Kossula easily shared his memories from Africa. His story includes pieces of his father’s and grandfather’s stories, building a brief generational record rather than one just of emotional experience.

Historical biographies can be complicated to record because it’s very easy for the recorder to insert themselves in the narrative. It can be challenging not to set these stories in the framework of our own personal belief and/or socially accepted fact. Hurston’s ability to separate herself from Kossula’s story, especially when his narrative differed from what she understood, is admirable. It also gives greater power to Kossula’s story itself.

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” is short as for as biographies go. You won’t get the whole story from birth to the moment of telling. In fact, you’ll only get a few snapshots of his remarkable life. What stands out the most is the emotions he shares – grief, pain, love, and loneliness. The use of his original dialect and interjections add to this. According to the (extensive) foreword, Hurston fought to keep the dialect in and as a result this manuscript was not published until recently, posthumously. While it’s unfortunate it took this long for Kossula’s story to be heard in long-form, I agree with her push to capture his authentic voice.

Albeit short, Barracoon is a unique piece of historical significance, seeking to share the voice of a freed slave in a dialogue dominated by white men. It’s well worth a read to get a glimpse of the preserved culture and to better round your understanding of American slavery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Colonisation

julied's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Slavery, and Grief

krisrow's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

muchadoaboutliz's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder