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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
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
This book is incredible. It's horrifying in how it shows just how common and prevalent unthinkable cruelty was under slavery. I read this after the movie (also amazing, a faithful and moving adaption of the book) and the book shows that the movies most painful moments (of which there are many) were all too common for slaves in the south. Northrop writes really elegantly about what it's like being a slave and about human nature in general. This is a great, important historical document that many, many people should read.
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
No star rating because I’d feel weird about “rating” book like this. A haunting and disturbing but ultimately valuable read
Powerful and moving. I expected it to be more challenging to get through the book but the writing style was clear and the narrative style was compelling, so it was a fairly easy read, aside from the deeply disturbing subject matter.
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
I can't believe this is non-fiction. It's really well written, the pace is maybe a bit slow for my taste, but generally this was both educational, disheartening and ultimately inspiring. Gotta check out the movie next.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
It's hard to rate something that's not only a classic, not only a nonfiction memoir of someone's life story, but also centered on such a tragically difficult and important topic. I don't know if I can say this was a book I enjoyed reading, although I do think it was well-written as well as insightful. Northup not only conveys the events that happened to him, but includes thoughtful meditations on the moral implications of slavery and the seemingly contradictory dichtomy of slaveowners that Northup believed to be good people at heart that were incredibly affecting. The descriptions of the brutality towards slaves in this novel also made me physical sick sometimes when I remembered that all of the events in the story were real.
As a novel, it lacks a certain sense of narrative in my opinion, going from event to event and describing a lot of the daily life of slaves, but again, I realize this a nonfiction memoir and not a story. Hence my difficulty with rating it. In any case, I do think this should be mandatory reading for students in North America, and I am very glad I read it.
As a novel, it lacks a certain sense of narrative in my opinion, going from event to event and describing a lot of the daily life of slaves, but again, I realize this a nonfiction memoir and not a story. Hence my difficulty with rating it. In any case, I do think this should be mandatory reading for students in North America, and I am very glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping