ktrain3900's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Minor: Suicide and Slavery
busyblackbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I found this book’s exploration of enslavement, racial dynamics, and agency so interesting. While at first I was wary of this book playing into the false and harmful “kindly master” narrative, Edugyan highlights the many ways in which white abolitionists viewed enslaved people as simply another Christian cause to pat themselves on the backs about. It troubles the narrative that many kids were fed in history class: that all white abolitionists were goodly humans who genuinely cared for Black people and viewed us as their equals. And I think there’s an interesting metaphor underlying a lot of this tale (I won’t spoil it here but if you’ve read it I’d love to hear your thoughts—DM me lol).
There were times at which I wished Wash’s love interest, who appears later on in the book, was more fleshed out, since she acts as an interesting foil to Wash but we only see very small snippets of her character. And sometimes I felt that Wash’s refusal to believe that certain white abolitionists were not all that they seemed a bit hard to believe, considering how bright Wash was (but, of course, we know that often it is hard to distance oneself from whiteness).
Anyway, all this is to say that I really liked this one and am glad I finally picked it up! I’d been intrigued by this one for a while, particularly since it was shortlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize. If you’re looking to get into historical fiction, this might be a good place to start.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Slavery, and Suicide
Moderate: Ableism
gracefulginger21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, and Slavery
flowerowl's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
jesshindes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This is a shame because I think Edugyan's point - what it would be like, how might it destablise you to grow up as a slave on a plantation knowing nothing other than that environment, never expecting or perhaps even imagining what a different future might be like, and then suddenly to be transplanted into quite a different environment on the other side of the world - is actually an interesting one. This question of identity and self is at the heart of the novel and our hero/narrator, Washington, is a sympathetic character, as he needs to be for the book to work. The landscapes and settings that Edugyan conjures are often absorbing and the first section of the novel on the slave plantation is bruising in its brutality. I did enjoy the book. But I think ultimately I found this less compelling than some of the other historical fiction I've been reading over the past couple of years. The variety of Black's journey is part of the point, but the book felt a little episodic to me and I wasn't totally sure what some of the key relationships were doing. The last section in particular felt a bit underpowered to me - I think the book lost some of its momentum as it went on. I like Edugyan's ambition, though, and I would (will) watch the TV adaptation that is apparently coming to screens at some point soon.
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Racism, Sexual assault, and Torture
asourceoffiction's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Rape
funktious's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Slavery, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual violence and Rape
janelleaimi's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs
ids100's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Abandonment, Death, and Physical abuse
Minor: Bullying
cassornelas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, Slavery, Violence, Suicide, and Racism