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jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
4.0
Rebecca Hall decided to write her thesis on women-led slave revolts. She knew they happened but the historical record is incomplete and difficult to navigate. In this graphic memoir, she shares her struggle to find records and the history she was able to piece together.
I honestly expected to find more hard facts in the book than I did. But Dr. Hall addresses that. Even when she found records of revolts led by women, they rarely contained more than a first name. So she decided to make "measured use of historical imagination" and fill in the gaps. That's fair enough, especially since she's very clear about what she found in the historical record and what she imagined.
Some records that she wanted to investigate are held by private companies (Lloyd's of London used to insure slave ships against insurrection). They refused to give her access when they learned what her research topic was. Even public records were hard for her to access when they were stored in courthouses, behind security screening. She faced discrimination over and over.
But the history she pieces together is powerful. Slave ships that contained more women than men were more likely to have insurrections. She shares notes from captain's logs about deaths, revolts, and the brutal way they treated their captives. She imagines what life was like as an enslaved woman and what would finally drive them to revolt. In short, she shares and imagines the unimaginable.
I have mixed feelings about Hugo Martínez's illustrations. On the one hand, I felt the heavy shading/cross-hatching muddied the artwork and made it hard for me to get a good fix on what was going on. They almost felt like idea sketches instead of finished works. I'm not an artist so I don't have the vocabulary to say what I mean. I'm a fast reader and don't spend a lot of time really focusing on illustrations, so that could just be me. But the surprising ways that he finds to show that Dr. Hall is haunted by the past were ingenious.
I recommend this book for readers who want to learn more about the history of slavery and slave revolts and for those who seek to gain an appreciation for how difficult it is to research that history, both logistically and emotionally.
I honestly expected to find more hard facts in the book than I did. But Dr. Hall addresses that. Even when she found records of revolts led by women, they rarely contained more than a first name. So she decided to make "measured use of historical imagination" and fill in the gaps. That's fair enough, especially since she's very clear about what she found in the historical record and what she imagined.
Some records that she wanted to investigate are held by private companies (Lloyd's of London used to insure slave ships against insurrection). They refused to give her access when they learned what her research topic was. Even public records were hard for her to access when they were stored in courthouses, behind security screening. She faced discrimination over and over.
But the history she pieces together is powerful. Slave ships that contained more women than men were more likely to have insurrections. She shares notes from captain's logs about deaths, revolts, and the brutal way they treated their captives. She imagines what life was like as an enslaved woman and what would finally drive them to revolt. In short, she shares and imagines the unimaginable.
I have mixed feelings about Hugo Martínez's illustrations. On the one hand, I felt the heavy shading/cross-hatching muddied the artwork and made it hard for me to get a good fix on what was going on. They almost felt like idea sketches instead of finished works. I'm not an artist so I don't have the vocabulary to say what I mean. I'm a fast reader and don't spend a lot of time really focusing on illustrations, so that could just be me. But the surprising ways that he finds to show that Dr. Hall is haunted by the past were ingenious.
I recommend this book for readers who want to learn more about the history of slavery and slave revolts and for those who seek to gain an appreciation for how difficult it is to research that history, both logistically and emotionally.
katel1970's review against another edition
4.0
I don't usually read graphic novels, but I enjoyed this immensely.
amyfletcher's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
mighty_lizard_queen's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.5
alexacat_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
4.0
This what not quite what I expected, but good in it's own way.
tarinamkd's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
mikaylaaubellona's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
verovivaldi9's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.25
agapsch's review against another edition
5.0
This was incredible. My favorite aspect was Hall consistently breaking down pre-conceived notions about women’s involvement in slave revolts. For example, she explained that on ships, enslaved women were frequently left unchained and on deck and thus able or organize a revolt among themselves. This is drastically opposed to historians who wrote off the statistic that more women on ships led to more revolts as pure coincidence.
The art was fantastic as well, I found the moments when the past bled into the present to be particularly impactful.
The art was fantastic as well, I found the moments when the past bled into the present to be particularly impactful.