A review by emma_lynn_writes
Clotel: Or, the President's Daughter by William Wells Brown

4.0

This book by William Wells Brown is considered to be the first published African American novel. The main character is Clotel, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and a slave woman. Clotel offers an interesting reading experience as it shifts the metaphorical camera to different characters in each chapter. These characters include Clotel and her mother, as well as the various people they come in contact with. While the introduction to the book written by M. Giulia Fabi makes the argument that this schizophrenic plot reveals the inherently chaotic nature of the lives of enslaved peoples in an unjust and nonsensical system, it doesn’t make for a very cohesive narrative or distinctive characters. Nevertheless, unlike some other books of this time period, the author’s writing style is clear and humorous, making this an important classic that I would recommend to modern readers.