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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
A great book with excellent writing that was ruined by the narration. I plan on rereading this soon in print form. Additionally, I refunded my audiobook. The narrator was monotone. No change of pace, speed or tone. Made it hard to pay attention and not drift off.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
I mainly read this book because I want to see the movie, and I like reading the book version before I see the movie. Based on the title, it's obviously a depressing book. It started off really well when he was talking about how he ended up becoming a slave. The middle part of the book felt really sluggish. I found the best parts of the book to be when he described the various plans he made to escape. Unfortunately too many times he spent talking about other slaves and mundane things like the proper way to pick cotton, etc. It picked back up again towards the end. Sometimes I would forget that this was a REAL person and I'd read parts of the book where slaves would be murdered and I'd catch myself and go, "Wow...that really did happen, that's no joke." Sad. Good read, but after you finish it you still feel kind of depressed. Such as, I think I need to go to Georgia and apologize to a black person even though I, nor any of my ancestors had anything to do with slavery in this country. I recommend it.
This book was very impactful, and I reccomend anyone interested at all in the subject matter to read it. One thing that was easy for me to forget during my reading, was that this was not fiction or an exaggeration, but real events in this man's life. I have read other works of fiction that present far more painful pictures of slavery than that presented here, but they are fiction. This book should have been more painful as a direct retelling of events, but I continuously struggled to process the true weight, comparing constantly to other works of literature which I am sure were largely inspired by this autobiography. I listened to this book as an audiobook, which may be part of the problem, but Northup wrote his story with such elegance, grace, and forethought that it does read like a novel. I highly reccomend this book, despite the rating I am giving it, which is based largely on my personal experience while reading. I hope to read it again someday in hard copy, and give myself the time to fully process the weight of this story.
This was an amazing story of the perseverance and cruelty of the human spirit, one that happened so recently in our history, and like I said before, conveyed with such elegant prose. If anything, it has inspired me to learn more about this era in history to form a more complete understanding of the book's events.
This was an amazing story of the perseverance and cruelty of the human spirit, one that happened so recently in our history, and like I said before, conveyed with such elegant prose. If anything, it has inspired me to learn more about this era in history to form a more complete understanding of the book's events.
Actual rating: 3.5 / 5
Buddy read with Read A Book Gem.
After putting off this classic memoir for years, I finally decided to read through it, and despite it being hard to start with (both in writing and in thematics), I soon fell into this woeful, but ultimately, uplifting tale of Solomon Northup's journey back to freedom after being kidnapped and sold into slavery for an immense 12 years.
It's that much harder to grasp that not only was he tricked into being sold into slavery, but the people that tricked him, travelled and (I'd imagine) got to know him on the way to the unfortunate situation. How can people do this to each other? Especially once you've had time to spend with that person and can surely see you're both human? It was disciple to read.
Due to this, I was quite pleased at the constant change in style of narration. We got a mixture of emotive writing that really made me feel for Solomon and his plight, and then to give me the emotional rest I probably needed, we'd get a more matter of fact description of events. In most cases, it provided a good detachment in a way that was healthy for the mind taking in all this man's trauma and whilst breaking away from the personal side of things, it gave the reader an insight into how the slave trade worked, the various and over abundant roles of the slave and how different plantations ran things. However, there were times were it just got too heavily detailed in the information I wasn't too invested in. I would rather much more of Solomon's personal story, than the lengthy descriptions of how to cotton pick, etc, that we were, at times, subject to. It gave, as I said, a good insight into the life of a slave, but at times I think it took too much attention from the actual memoir side of things, making it less moving.
There was a section where Solomon went into detail about his belief that the cruelty slave owners inflict is not their fault. That being born into a society where this cruetly is normalised and expected, to paraphrase, is hardly going to change the outcome that the next generation, upon seeing this as normalised, will stray from that notion. Although I see the theory, I don't agree and really commend Solomon's character for him to be able to think that way, whilst undergoing the cruelty of the slave owner.
Overall, a very interesting account of the slavery of a free man, the journey out of it and the history of slavery at that time, in general.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy >(^_^)<
Gén
Buddy read with Read A Book Gem.
After putting off this classic memoir for years, I finally decided to read through it, and despite it being hard to start with (both in writing and in thematics), I soon fell into this woeful, but ultimately, uplifting tale of Solomon Northup's journey back to freedom after being kidnapped and sold into slavery for an immense 12 years.
It's that much harder to grasp that not only was he tricked into being sold into slavery, but the people that tricked him, travelled and (I'd imagine) got to know him on the way to the unfortunate situation. How can people do this to each other? Especially once you've had time to spend with that person and can surely see you're both human? It was disciple to read.
Due to this, I was quite pleased at the constant change in style of narration. We got a mixture of emotive writing that really made me feel for Solomon and his plight, and then to give me the emotional rest I probably needed, we'd get a more matter of fact description of events. In most cases, it provided a good detachment in a way that was healthy for the mind taking in all this man's trauma and whilst breaking away from the personal side of things, it gave the reader an insight into how the slave trade worked, the various and over abundant roles of the slave and how different plantations ran things. However, there were times were it just got too heavily detailed in the information I wasn't too invested in. I would rather much more of Solomon's personal story, than the lengthy descriptions of how to cotton pick, etc, that we were, at times, subject to. It gave, as I said, a good insight into the life of a slave, but at times I think it took too much attention from the actual memoir side of things, making it less moving.
There was a section where Solomon went into detail about his belief that the cruelty slave owners inflict is not their fault. That being born into a society where this cruetly is normalised and expected, to paraphrase, is hardly going to change the outcome that the next generation, upon seeing this as normalised, will stray from that notion. Although I see the theory, I don't agree and really commend Solomon's character for him to be able to think that way, whilst undergoing the cruelty of the slave owner.
Overall, a very interesting account of the slavery of a free man, the journey out of it and the history of slavery at that time, in general.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy >(^_^)<
Gén
I wanted to read this after seeing the movie. Although of course the subject matter is sad and difficult, I found it very readable and found Northup's story of his time in the south compelling as well as horrifying. I think the makers of the movie were mostly faithful to the true story. Numerous editorial footnotes made it clear that Northup was highly intelligent with a prodigious memory. Fact checking done 100 years after the incidents portrayed back up his story virtually every time.
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Slavery
I really enjoyed this book. I would have given it 5 stars, but I didn't "crave" it like I often do with books that you just can't put down. The story was well-told and captivating, and portrayed slave life well (I think).
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
this book chronicles the story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was tricked by perspective business partners in Washington D.C and sold into slavery. i gave it 4 stars because the writing style is at times hard to get through, the content itself is, however, captivating, eye opening, and tragic. reading/seeing dramatizations of the slavery era can give one separation from the issue of slavery. admitting its gruesome history but not being fully aware of the true nature of it, as fictional retellings may be based in truth, but are not, themselves, truths. this story however, is a truthful and acurate retelling of one man's relationship with slavery; leaving the reader no room to use 'fiction' or 'dramatization' as reason for the horridness of this act. faced with the bear and ugly truth one must wonder how our nation allowed such a practice as treating other human beings as property or literally three fifths of a person to persist for as long as it did.