Reviews - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Illustrated

1.96k reviews for:

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Illustrated

This is a an eye opening view everyone should experience. I read this after I saw it as a recommendation on a documentary I saw. It is a first hand perspective of slavery to freedom through Fredrick Douglas' eyes. A must read. I cried a lot listening to it. The horrible things he saw and experienced. But I would recommend to anyone and everyone. No matter race, sex or creed.

samchase112's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

Frederick Douglass's slave narrative is a classic for a reason. He clearly and passionately describes his life as an enslaved man in the early 19th century, pulling on his readers' emotions in just the right way. This narrative is terrifying to read, at once humbling and inspiring. Atrocity after atrocity is committed, and the strength of the human spirit is truly remarkable to witness in these pages. Douglass is known as a great speaker and leader, but it must be recognized that he was also a great writer.

Content Warnings

immovabletype's review against another edition

4.0

What really struck me was how the introductory texts in the preface (written by Douglass's contemporaries and included in the original publication, so I believe they will be in all editions), while sincere and correct, are still fairly inaccessible and overwrought as far as the language is concerned, which has the effect of highlighting the clear, concise wisdom of Frederick Douglass. If you've never read this before and worry it will be dense or inaccessible, don't let that be a stumbling block; the writing is powerful but uncomplicated. Personally, I've read sections of it before in school, but this was my first full read through (even then it's quite short, 122 pages on Kindle). I've always found the idea he presented of slavery itself as a corrupting influence on whites even if they start out with "good" intentions to be really intriguing, so I was hoping for a deeper exploration of that and didn't really find it in the full text. I also completely understand why he omitted the details of how he escaped slavery (the safety of other fleeing slaves who might take the same path), but given that the whole narrative was heading in that direction, it does create an unfortunate disconnect with his story as a narrative at that point. But otherwise the importance of this text is obvious and moving.