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paigemorgan17's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.5
ysaabook's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
lydiaharper's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
3.75
musicdeepdive's review against another edition
4.5
Perhaps the language is dense for some, but you can tell Douglass took a lot from Equiano as far as rhetoric and narrative style goes, and that's all for the better. Love how Equiano describes not only the experience of being enslaved, but how he describes the difficulties of being a free black man in Western society - the latter especially is a very singular perspective for the era.
goosemixtapes's review against another edition
fascinating in that it's potentially the First Ever Slave Narrative (but may have also been Just Some Shit This Guy Made Up), and thus enjoyable to discuss in class, but man, if i were gonna call my narrative "interesting"--in the title, no less--i would probably put fewer naval details in that narrative. just a thought
lindseyzank's review against another edition
3.0
This narrative reminded me of an African American version of Robinson Crusoe which was also published in the 18th century. It was informative in terms of the inter-workings of the slave trade, yet I felt that it was too bogged down with the sea voyage narrative style and I learned more about being on a ship than what the slaves of the slave trade endured. I enjoyed the few and far between moments when Equiano philosophizes about the morality of the slave trade. I was left wanting much more of this style of writing. His religious transformation seems a bit forced here and doesn't come with believable underpinnings other than he had nowhere else to turn in trying times. I recommend this book if you are studying anti-slavery discourses. You might be slightly enraged, however, that Equiano believed Europeans should look towards Africa to civilize and then turn into economic profit. I was a bit taken aback by this conclusion.
taviamorgan's review against another edition
3.0
the first half of this book was definitely more interesting than the second. i enjoyed the class discussions surrounding this book and i just know that if i had read this for AP lang and we were talking rhetorical strategu holy crap that would’ve been wild because this is so rhetorically strong. overall an important book but just not a stand out.
as i read: i like that the beginning is talking about the history of his past and the traditions of the part of africa he is from. the beginning feels like he is trying to prove thoughts that white people ahve wrong about black people.
as i read: i like that the beginning is talking about the history of his past and the traditions of the part of africa he is from. the beginning feels like he is trying to prove thoughts that white people ahve wrong about black people.
mwhits's review against another edition
3.0
Equiano’s story is heartbreaking, fascinating, inspiring and much more - his storytelling is quite honestly the opposite. I wish he had someone write this for him with all the correct information as he made some crazy stories extremelllllly mundane.
His experience is a must-know, I just don’t know if learning about it this way is the most effective…
His experience is a must-know, I just don’t know if learning about it this way is the most effective…