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1.46k reviews for:
Twelve Years a Slave: Including; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Solomon Northup, Frederick Douglass
4.23 AVERAGE
1.46k reviews for:
Twelve Years a Slave: Including; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Solomon Northup, Frederick Douglass
4.23 AVERAGE
WOW. So grateful that this man was able and courageous enough to write his story. Sad that our country treated so many so poorly for so long.
A book at least 100 years older than me--#Popsugar2016 Challenge
My 14 y.o and I read this together as a buddy read. While I have no desire to see the movie, I found the book both harrowing in its relentless detail of abuse and yet almost clinical in its examination of Simon's plight. While of course I felt horror while reading, I also felt a curious distance.
Some of it may have to do with the 'voice' as it is written in the language and cadence of its time period. It reminded me of some of the diaries our family owns of great and great-great grandparents who would catalog even the most mundane matters of their day. While Simon's narrative is far from mundane, the relentless detail may have a bit of a numbing effect.
Some of it may have to do with the fact that the story is written by a third party. Simon's words, yes, but still filtered through a writer/editor that lends it some distance.
Whatever the case, I am glad of the distance. I don't think that I could have read this comfortably without it. I found the story affecting and sobering and powerful. And very, very sad.
I have not had the chance to see what my son thought of it. However, judging from a few comments he's let drop, he is understanding and appreciating some parts of his own history in a new and more personal way.
And this makes me very, very glad.
My Full Review Here
Some of it may have to do with the 'voice' as it is written in the language and cadence of its time period. It reminded me of some of the diaries our family owns of great and great-great grandparents who would catalog even the most mundane matters of their day. While Simon's narrative is far from mundane, the relentless detail may have a bit of a numbing effect.
Some of it may have to do with the fact that the story is written by a third party. Simon's words, yes, but still filtered through a writer/editor that lends it some distance.
Whatever the case, I am glad of the distance. I don't think that I could have read this comfortably without it. I found the story affecting and sobering and powerful. And very, very sad.
I have not had the chance to see what my son thought of it. However, judging from a few comments he's let drop, he is understanding and appreciating some parts of his own history in a new and more personal way.
And this makes me very, very glad.
My Full Review Here
This was a remarkable story, and well told. I do agree with the author that if this book has a sin, it's portraying slavery too kindly. The author seemed to struggle somewhat with overcoming Stockholm syndrome.
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
It's my second time reading this book- this time, also for class - and I'm still struck by the immense tragedy and horrors people have put others through. This book is heartbreaking and awful and unimaginable for me, but absolutely necessary. It gives a lot of perspective to the racism and institutionalized inequality we still have today.
For a story that claims to be entirely true, this is both interesting and engaging without being impossible to read. It follows the capture of a free man in the 1840's and the process by which he is entrapped for 12 years in slavery. It's heartbreaking but also doesn't force drama, so there's no sense of foreboding and suspense, just plainly (and humbly) delivered memories that are quite traumatic enough without any of that.
DNF after 50%. I just wasn’t into it as much as the movie and kept spacing out (audiobook)
Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup has been a book I have been wanting to reading for a while now and I honestly don’t know what kept putting me off. Finally getting to this book, I wasn’t prepared for this book and the emotions it was going to pull from me. I knew of the importance of this book, but I was unaware of it’s true importance and what happened, not only within the pages of this book, but with poor Solomon and his life. I honestly was naïve and embarrassed to say that I didn’t realise before going into this book, that this was in fact non-fiction, which is again, why I apricate the importance of reading and educating yourself, or myself in this case.
I sat down and begun this book and I was so shocked and so absorbed in what I was reading and by what was happening within, that this was one of the few books that I actually found myself reading in one sitting. I didn’t look up until I had finished this book, not realising how much time had passed, having been taken back in time and only worried about how and if Solomon was going to become free again.
This is such an important and powerful piece of literature, both for when it was released in history and for people to read and digest in todays society and one that I am glad to have finally have read. The fact that this is told from and by Solomon’s narrative is one of the reasons why this is so important and why this book has become one of my instant favourites. I know that this is going to be a book that is going to be high on my recommendation list, for its writing, for it’s content and for the fact that even in todays society, people still need reminding that everyone is equal and should be treated as so!
I sat down and begun this book and I was so shocked and so absorbed in what I was reading and by what was happening within, that this was one of the few books that I actually found myself reading in one sitting. I didn’t look up until I had finished this book, not realising how much time had passed, having been taken back in time and only worried about how and if Solomon was going to become free again.
This is such an important and powerful piece of literature, both for when it was released in history and for people to read and digest in todays society and one that I am glad to have finally have read. The fact that this is told from and by Solomon’s narrative is one of the reasons why this is so important and why this book has become one of my instant favourites. I know that this is going to be a book that is going to be high on my recommendation list, for its writing, for it’s content and for the fact that even in todays society, people still need reminding that everyone is equal and should be treated as so!