Scan barcode
readingismyfirstlove's review
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
kjcharles's review
A hugely powerful short novel of former US slaves turned Revolutionary War soldiers now scraping an existence in London in the 1780s when Britain's black population was at its pre 20th century peak.
This is amazing. Full of historical detail including a lot of real people, and rammed with the stench and filth of the city. Terrific sense of place and time.
It is a brutal book in some ways because those were brutal times. England's perfidy to the soldiers it used is clear, as is the endemic racism, but there's a lot more. Class divides among the black community, between the few privileged Brit-born and the miserable American imports, and awful crab bucket jostling for survival. And over everything the shadow of slavery. There were a few lines that made me need to put the book down for a moment--one when Buckram is stunned by the sight of a black adult with her parents because he literally has never seen that before; another when William has a near panic attack at being in a house full of white Americans.
But there is also a thread of friendship and, unstoppably, hope, and a few moments of spectacular satisfaction. And mostly the sense of...oh, imaginative expansion at this vivid picture of a part of London that very rarely gets shown and never from this perspective. A great book.
This is amazing. Full of historical detail including a lot of real people, and rammed with the stench and filth of the city. Terrific sense of place and time.
It is a brutal book in some ways because those were brutal times. England's perfidy to the soldiers it used is clear, as is the endemic racism, but there's a lot more. Class divides among the black community, between the few privileged Brit-born and the miserable American imports, and awful crab bucket jostling for survival. And over everything the shadow of slavery. There were a few lines that made me need to put the book down for a moment--one when Buckram is stunned by the sight of a black adult with her parents because he literally has never seen that before; another when William has a near panic attack at being in a house full of white Americans.
But there is also a thread of friendship and, unstoppably, hope, and a few moments of spectacular satisfaction. And mostly the sense of...oh, imaginative expansion at this vivid picture of a part of London that very rarely gets shown and never from this perspective. A great book.
More...