A review by lindseyzank
The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales by Charles W. Chesnutt

4.0

Chesnutt should be commended for writing almost exclusively in black vernacular of the post Civil War era in the U.S. from the point of view of a free black man. These stories are exhaustingly difficult to read, yet are also enjoyable if read aloud. The authenticity of the language is undeniable. The conjure tales were fascinating and whimsical. Slaves believed family and love to be more important than freedom in these tales which I found touching. My only criticism is that the tales are strewn together through the device of this Northern white couple who comes to stay in the South. While I recognize that Chesnutt is speaking back at the traditional plantation narrative in which slavery was idealized and there was a sense of nolstalgia for it on the part of the black man, I felt unsatisfied by these two characters.