asourceoffiction's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Here's an example of a book that I finished, and immediately proceeded to try and find out where the inspiration came from. Washington Black is not a true story, but nor does it make up any of the horrors experienced by the slaves at Faith plantation. Out of respect Edugyan does not shy away from these realities, and tells them as they were recorded in history.
But after Faith plantation the story examines so much more about the lives of freed slaves (either by emancipation or by escape). Wash is a beguiling character, and it felt palpable how he can't trust even the kindest gestures from strangers because of how he was born and raised. It seems that he takes years to feel safe even in happy moments, which highlights how high a price he pays for his freedom.
The writing is raw and emotional, and veers often into the fantastical (hot air balloon journeys, voyages to the literal ends of the earth), with its characters as much as with the story. I'm not sure if it has a happy ending per se, more a determined one. But it was fascinating and immersive to read.
But after Faith plantation the story examines so much more about the lives of freed slaves (either by emancipation or by escape). Wash is a beguiling character, and it felt palpable how he can't trust even the kindest gestures from strangers because of how he was born and raised. It seems that he takes years to feel safe even in happy moments, which highlights how high a price he pays for his freedom.
The writing is raw and emotional, and veers often into the fantastical (hot air balloon journeys, voyages to the literal ends of the earth), with its characters as much as with the story. I'm not sure if it has a happy ending per se, more a determined one. But it was fascinating and immersive to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Rape
funktious's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Not quite what I was expecting, but a good read nevertheless. I agree with other reviews that it feels like a book of two halves, that don't quite match in tone / pace. My favourite section was the one in Nova Scotia; I enjoyed the setting and the effect it had on Washington.
Also interesting to read a book with white abolitionists that also critiques them and their motives as well as the slavers. And the contrast between the white and non-white characters interested in science and living unconventional lives; how it's so much easier for one than the other, and made so much easier for one by the vastness of the slave trade and plantations providing the money.
Also interesting to read a book with white abolitionists that also critiques them and their motives as well as the slavers. And the contrast between the white and non-white characters interested in science and living unconventional lives; how it's so much easier for one than the other, and made so much easier for one by the vastness of the slave trade and plantations providing the money.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual violence and Rape
lostinthelibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was just okay. Strong start and it picked up a bit towards the end but a lot of it was confusing and I feel I slogged through a bit. I didn't really care for most of the characters other than Wash himself. The big emotional moments didn't really hit as hard as they should and neither did the tense moments. Everything was all a bit meh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Child abuse
Minor: Rape
thenonbinaryc's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Slavery, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Murder, and Suicide
makkylikestoread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Grief and Rape
Minor: Death
annemaries_shelves's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In talking with one of my friends about this novel, they highlighted a clear strength of it - the ability to remind the reader not only how relevant the problems our titular character, Washington Black, faces but how much these issues reverberate through the modern society and times.
Which connects to another strength of Edugyan's work - how she highlights and underscores in every sentence and scene the sheer brutality and pain and fear wrought upon enslaved people by white people. Which in itself is contrasted by banality of evil shown in the everyday, casual violence and racism by the individuals carrying out colonialism and slavery.
"More troubling for myself...was the person of John Francis Willard [the bounty hunter]. Who was he? Though a child, I did not picture a monster - he was no creature all teeth, all vicious blue eyes behind mangled wire spectacles; his voice not slow and reptilian, his hands not huge black claws. I knew the nature of evil; I knew his benign, easy face. He would be a man, simply. And it was his very anonymity that would make it impossible to see him coming." (page 176)
But above all, Edugyan is exploring what it means to be free - and how some people are a little more free than others. The freedoms "granted" to free Black people are unstable, hard-won, and all too easily snatched away. Indeed, so many parallels can be drawn between the white abolitionists of the 1830s and the socially conscious and/or performative white allies of today... both often attempt to absolve the "moral stains" on the souls of white people without truly considering the impact and pain on Black people or fully considering them equals either.
"[Black people] are God's creatures also, with all due rights and freedoms. Slavery is a moral stain against us. If anything will keep white men from their heaven, it is this." (page 104-105)
In terms of the text itself, the prose is a beautiful mix of clear, striking turns of phrases that highlight both obvious and not so clear truths of humanity, in contrast to gorgeous and more flowery descriptions of the natural world and Wash's inner world.
Edugyan has a natural ability to evoke atmosphere and setting, to infuse her scenes with tension and stress, to highlight the beauty of the small pleasures and grand emotions of life.
"How luminous the world was, in the shallows. I could see all the golden light of the dying morning, I could see the debris in it stirring coming alive. Blue, purple, gold cilia turned in the watery yellow shafts of light slicing down. In the gilded blur I caught the flashing eyes of shrimp, alien and sinewy." (page 272)
However, I felt the pacing between the four sections was slightly off and I'm not sure if it's intentional or not. Part 1, and sections of Part 3 and 4 are much slower paced than Part 2 and the remaining sections of 3 and 4. If intentional, I imagine it may have to do with how Wash is experiencing the world. When we're introduced to him, enslavement is all he knows and Titch's sudden arrival, upheaving everything and changing the course of his life, makes a big impact. Similarly, when Wash is in Nova Scotia and later England, learning more about who he is as a human and a Freeman, we also take time to delve into his experiences and inner thoughts. In comparison, Part 2 (largely America and the Arctic) and the ending (Part 4) are a little more fast-paced; we don't spend nearly as much time in each setting or scene. However, these are minor issues in an otherwise extremely well written novel.
An interesting observation about language choice was the different descriptions of Black people used by different people. In a major way, this stands to represent how each character perceives Black people in the world... and this perception also changes within Wash as he grows and learns what it means to be himself as a free Black man with all his life's experiences thus far.
And with that said, there are frequent uses of the N-word throughout the text, which considering this is a historical fiction novel by a Black author, and as someone who is a white reviewer, this is not something on which I have an opinion to share, but simply note for others' awareness.
Finally, the octopus - the main image on my copy of this novel - is one of the best, and one of the more subtle, metaphors for Washington Black throughout the text. Kudos to Edugyan for that!
I could go on and on about the various themes Edugyan explores, the open-ended nature of the text's ending, the multitude of parallels between Wash's life and experiences and those of people living today, but I think I've expressed everything I needed to say. So, I'll wrap up this review with three final quotes (there were so many gems in this text, it was hard to pick):
"How could he have treated me so, he who congratulated himself on his belief that I was his equal? I had never been his equal. To him, perhaps, any deep acceptance of equality was impossible. He saw only those who were there to be saved, and those who did the saving." (page 322)
"Silence passed. Then, in some surprise at myself, I began to speak of Ocean House, of what I hoped it would be, in the end. And I knew then, in my very mention of it, that I would return to London and fight to undo the expunging of my name, that I would devote myself wholly to the project and seek some credit for it." (page 410)
"I thought of my existence between Titch's arrival, the brutal hours in the field under the crushing sun, the screams, the casual finality edging every slave's life, as though each day could very easily be the last. And that, it seemed to me clearly, was the most obvious anguish - that life had never belonged to any of us, even when we'd sought to reclaim it by ending it. We had been estranged from the potential of our own bodies, from the revelation of everything our bodies and minds could accomplish." (page 415)
Which connects to another strength of Edugyan's work - how she highlights and underscores in every sentence and scene the sheer brutality and pain and fear wrought upon enslaved people by white people. Which in itself is contrasted by banality of evil shown in the everyday, casual violence and racism by the individuals carrying out colonialism and slavery.
"More troubling for myself...was the person of John Francis Willard [the bounty hunter]. Who was he? Though a child, I did not picture a monster - he was no creature all teeth, all vicious blue eyes behind mangled wire spectacles; his voice not slow and reptilian, his hands not huge black claws. I knew the nature of evil; I knew his benign, easy face. He would be a man, simply. And it was his very anonymity that would make it impossible to see him coming." (page 176)
But above all, Edugyan is exploring what it means to be free - and how some people are a little more free than others. The freedoms "granted" to free Black people are unstable, hard-won, and all too easily snatched away. Indeed, so many parallels can be drawn between the white abolitionists of the 1830s and the socially conscious and/or performative white allies of today... both often attempt to absolve the "moral stains" on the souls of white people without truly considering the impact and pain on Black people or fully considering them equals either.
"[Black people] are God's creatures also, with all due rights and freedoms. Slavery is a moral stain against us. If anything will keep white men from their heaven, it is this." (page 104-105)
In terms of the text itself, the prose is a beautiful mix of clear, striking turns of phrases that highlight both obvious and not so clear truths of humanity, in contrast to gorgeous and more flowery descriptions of the natural world and Wash's inner world.
Edugyan has a natural ability to evoke atmosphere and setting, to infuse her scenes with tension and stress, to highlight the beauty of the small pleasures and grand emotions of life.
"How luminous the world was, in the shallows. I could see all the golden light of the dying morning, I could see the debris in it stirring coming alive. Blue, purple, gold cilia turned in the watery yellow shafts of light slicing down. In the gilded blur I caught the flashing eyes of shrimp, alien and sinewy." (page 272)
However, I felt the pacing between the four sections was slightly off and I'm not sure if it's intentional or not. Part 1, and sections of Part 3 and 4 are much slower paced than Part 2 and the remaining sections of 3 and 4. If intentional, I imagine it may have to do with how Wash is experiencing the world. When we're introduced to him, enslavement is all he knows and Titch's sudden arrival, upheaving everything and changing the course of his life, makes a big impact. Similarly, when Wash is in Nova Scotia and later England, learning more about who he is as a human and a Freeman, we also take time to delve into his experiences and inner thoughts. In comparison, Part 2 (largely America and the Arctic) and the ending (Part 4) are a little more fast-paced; we don't spend nearly as much time in each setting or scene. However, these are minor issues in an otherwise extremely well written novel.
An interesting observation about language choice was the different descriptions of Black people used by different people. In a major way, this stands to represent how each character perceives Black people in the world... and this perception also changes within Wash as he grows and learns what it means to be himself as a free Black man with all his life's experiences thus far.
And with that said, there are frequent uses of the N-word throughout the text, which considering this is a historical fiction novel by a Black author, and as someone who is a white reviewer, this is not something on which I have an opinion to share, but simply note for others' awareness.
Finally, the octopus - the main image on my copy of this novel - is one of the best, and one of the more subtle, metaphors for Washington Black throughout the text. Kudos to Edugyan for that!
I could go on and on about the various themes Edugyan explores, the open-ended nature of the text's ending, the multitude of parallels between Wash's life and experiences and those of people living today, but I think I've expressed everything I needed to say. So, I'll wrap up this review with three final quotes (there were so many gems in this text, it was hard to pick):
"How could he have treated me so, he who congratulated himself on his belief that I was his equal? I had never been his equal. To him, perhaps, any deep acceptance of equality was impossible. He saw only those who were there to be saved, and those who did the saving." (page 322)
"Silence passed. Then, in some surprise at myself, I began to speak of Ocean House, of what I hoped it would be, in the end. And I knew then, in my very mention of it, that I would return to London and fight to undo the expunging of my name, that I would devote myself wholly to the project and seek some credit for it." (page 410)
"I thought of my existence between Titch's arrival, the brutal hours in the field under the crushing sun, the screams, the casual finality edging every slave's life, as though each day could very easily be the last. And that, it seemed to me clearly, was the most obvious anguish - that life had never belonged to any of us, even when we'd sought to reclaim it by ending it. We had been estranged from the potential of our own bodies, from the revelation of everything our bodies and minds could accomplish." (page 415)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Blood and Death
Minor: Rape
haley313's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A sweeping tale that feels like it cuts across several genres. The beginning is a brutal and realistic depiction of slavery. It then becomes an part adventure epic, part science-fiction. It requires the reader to suspend their disbelief and trust the author. I loved Wash and enjoyed the fact that many of the characters were not just “good” or “bad.” They were multi-faceted and felt like real people. Not crazy about the ending, and the last few chapters felt rushed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Torture
Minor: Rape
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