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megatsunami's review against another edition
4.0
This was a well-researched and thoughtful book, though not new information for me since I have read quite a bit about sugar and slavery in the Caribbean.
kimu's review
2.0
I was really looking forward to this book after hearing the author on NPR. Good: the book is clearly incredibly well researched, the topic area has lot of potential for a fascinating non fiction story. Bad: the author's writing style is so incredibly dry that it left me yawning, the book is over burdened with detail, the angle the author starts with (following the perspective of a potential English relative) is off putting, and the audiobook narrator is grating. Just a complete miss for me, disappointing because in interviews the author seemed so fascinating!
melanierichards's review
5.0
A beautifully-written account of the complicated history of sugar in Barbados and beyond, told through the lens of the author's family lineage. This is one of the best history books I have read, but I would have loved to hear more about the later generations of the family, whereas a good deal of time was spent on the first white settlers. As Stuart herself notes, this has a lot to do with what information is available. She probably also feels more comfortable to speculate about family members she had never met based on historical context ("George probably felt that...") than with family members who she knew more about and could possibly disservice.
I also feel it is a mark of good nonfiction that I would want to dive deeper in topics touched upon, and would invite recommendations for books on the Haitian revolution.
I also feel it is a mark of good nonfiction that I would want to dive deeper in topics touched upon, and would invite recommendations for books on the Haitian revolution.
soulkissed2003's review
1.0
This book was recommended in the author's notes of another book I read earlier this year. In the first book, the characters' lives were affected by the rhythms of life on sugar cane plantations on an island in the Caribbean. In this book, "Sugar in the Blood", the author describes how her own ancestors came to the islands and raised their families on these plantations. Some did so as slaves.
I expected something akin to "Roots", a sort of storytelling (and yes, I know that "Roots" is known to be a false accounting of Haley's family tree). In making the comparison, my hope was for something that would grab my interest, keep me ready to read more. Obviously this was not going to be a story of warm feelings and happy moments. But what I found was that the telling was dry, like an overdone piece of toast when you don't have a drink handy to wash it down. I think this could have been something epic if it didn't read like a college thesis paper.
I expected something akin to "Roots", a sort of storytelling (and yes, I know that "Roots" is known to be a false accounting of Haley's family tree). In making the comparison, my hope was for something that would grab my interest, keep me ready to read more. Obviously this was not going to be a story of warm feelings and happy moments. But what I found was that the telling was dry, like an overdone piece of toast when you don't have a drink handy to wash it down. I think this could have been something epic if it didn't read like a college thesis paper.
lauren_endnotes's review
The thing that made this book great - the author's own ancestral research in telling the story of slave trade/plantation life in Barbados (and similarly for other colonized "sugar islands") - also contributed to some of its pitfalls.
In Part 1, Stuart continues to refer to her great* grandfather, George Ashby, with about 10 greats - all written out right there in the text (and in the audiobook). She does this a number of times, and it was just the beginning of some lax editorial decisions. There was so much research and then a big info-dump on the page. When the original sources are scant or non-existant, Stuart falls into conjecture (this "would have" happened they "would have" thought, stated frequently ). A little editing work would have made for a more positive reading experience, and a tighter story.
Part 2 evened out, and much time is spent with her ancestors in the early part of the 19th-century.This section was more absorbing, had more records to pull from, and placed her family's history in a broader context of events in / around the Caribbean, the UK, and in the US.
Part 3 includes her grandparents' and parents' generation in the US and back in Barbados, coming together for Barbados' independence from Britain in 1966, and her youth in the UK and Barbados.
In Part 1, Stuart continues to refer to her great* grandfather, George Ashby, with about 10 greats - all written out right there in the text (and in the audiobook). She does this a number of times, and it was just the beginning of some lax editorial decisions. There was so much research and then a big info-dump on the page. When the original sources are scant or non-existant, Stuart falls into conjecture (this "would have" happened they "would have" thought, stated frequently ). A little editing work would have made for a more positive reading experience, and a tighter story.
Part 2 evened out, and much time is spent with her ancestors in the early part of the 19th-century.This section was more absorbing, had more records to pull from, and placed her family's history in a broader context of events in / around the Caribbean, the UK, and in the US.
Part 3 includes her grandparents' and parents' generation in the US and back in Barbados, coming together for Barbados' independence from Britain in 1966, and her youth in the UK and Barbados.
tanyarobinson's review against another edition
3.0
Andrea Stuart takes an interesting approach to the history of Barbados - she tracks the island's past by looking at the varied experiences of her own ancestors. She was able to trace her genealogy back to one of the earliest settlers from Britain, then through a later sugar cane plantation owner who produced children with several of his slaves. She examines the unique dynamic of Barbados' society, where a minority white planter class used extremely harsh measures to control the majority black and mulatto population, yet tacitly allowed miscegenation and gave greater privileges to mixed-race "coloureds" (as opposed to the one-drop of black blood policy predominant in the American South). The twentieth century is also examined, particularly post-colonial attitudes, the mid-century migration to NYC, and the economic rise of tourism.
I wish I had known about this book before traveling to Barbados on a cruise a few years ago. It's not easy to find good historical and informational literature on the Caribbean islands, but this gives depth to a place many see as simply a tourist destination. 3.5 stars.
I wish I had known about this book before traveling to Barbados on a cruise a few years ago. It's not easy to find good historical and informational literature on the Caribbean islands, but this gives depth to a place many see as simply a tourist destination. 3.5 stars.