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jmcook's review
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
tantalus's review
4.0
If you've come this far, you already know that you'll read it, and that you'll like it.
Compared to Slave Songs, the text is less provoking in its nature, but that is still a pretty high bar to set for Dabydeen. We have similar characters, often even named the same. And with characters from the archival history, like Hogarth and Gladstone, he juggles the reader between fact and fiction. The basic ideas that he explores in this novel arenot drastically different than in his previous works, but his approach is. Here, instead of the wanting, needing, suffering canecutter, you have a black character who in fact stands tall against the white, and mocks them in their face to his leisure, beats them in their own game in many ways.
Dabydeen's storytelling is not my cup of tea, hence the one missing star, but content-wise, if you've read any of his works before and liked it, you will not be disappointed.
Compared to Slave Songs, the text is less provoking in its nature, but that is still a pretty high bar to set for Dabydeen. We have similar characters, often even named the same. And with characters from the archival history, like Hogarth and Gladstone, he juggles the reader between fact and fiction. The basic ideas that he explores in this novel arenot drastically different than in his previous works, but his approach is. Here, instead of the wanting, needing, suffering canecutter, you have a black character who in fact stands tall against the white, and mocks them in their face to his leisure, beats them in their own game in many ways.
Dabydeen's storytelling is not my cup of tea, hence the one missing star, but content-wise, if you've read any of his works before and liked it, you will not be disappointed.
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