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reasie's review against another edition
3.0
Olaudah Equiano's autobiography is historically significant for the brief glimpses it gives us of Africa in the 1700's, and other fascinating historical notes. (At one point he is cast overboard by a wave, and can't swim, but "my jacket kept me afloat long enough for another to rescue me." Made me wonder if it could have been a primative life-vest, or just air trapped under his shirt.)
I picked this up after reading passages quoted from it in "A History of African American Music" - alas, he does not spend MUCH time on his early childhood in Africa. Like all autobiographies, it meanders, drops information ahead of time which destroys suspense, and often pays too little attention to what most interests the reader.
Mr. Equiano is quite the capitalist. He talks often of his troubles as a free trader in the West Indies, where white men could feel free to take his wares and not pay for them, since it was illegal for a black man to testify in court against a white one. Still he manages again and again to amass money, enough to buy his own freedom, then set himself up in London, then he goes asea for more, loses another fortune, ends up stranded on a desert island, then running a plantation in the land of Musquito, and then nearly enslaved again by unscrupulous captains who take him on as a sailor and then refuse to pay him or take him to England.
At times quite a swashbuckling tale. Now, he is a terribly religious fellow, and many passages are devoted to Proof of God's Providence, of the sort of tales one still sees circulated on email by elder relatives. But despite these forrays into sentimental philosophy, it is an important little book and I'm glad I read it.
"But I won't bore the reader with accounts of all the nations and peoples we passed through" DAMNIT MAN. Minus one star, just for that. ;)
I picked this up after reading passages quoted from it in "A History of African American Music" - alas, he does not spend MUCH time on his early childhood in Africa. Like all autobiographies, it meanders, drops information ahead of time which destroys suspense, and often pays too little attention to what most interests the reader.
Mr. Equiano is quite the capitalist. He talks often of his troubles as a free trader in the West Indies, where white men could feel free to take his wares and not pay for them, since it was illegal for a black man to testify in court against a white one. Still he manages again and again to amass money, enough to buy his own freedom, then set himself up in London, then he goes asea for more, loses another fortune, ends up stranded on a desert island, then running a plantation in the land of Musquito, and then nearly enslaved again by unscrupulous captains who take him on as a sailor and then refuse to pay him or take him to England.
At times quite a swashbuckling tale. Now, he is a terribly religious fellow, and many passages are devoted to Proof of God's Providence, of the sort of tales one still sees circulated on email by elder relatives. But despite these forrays into sentimental philosophy, it is an important little book and I'm glad I read it.
"But I won't bore the reader with accounts of all the nations and peoples we passed through" DAMNIT MAN. Minus one star, just for that. ;)
urlphantomhive's review
3.0
This was an interesting and quite shocking account of Olaudah Equiano, a freedman in 18th century Great Britain who's autobiography was important for the abolition of slave trade. Rather, this edition contained some chapters from his autobiography
As has been the case for many of the collected editions in the Little Black Classics, the selection of the chapters seems to have been rather random. While they provide a sample or a little taste they are not curated enough to be able to stand on their own. Same applies with Kidnapped, I will have to read the full account.
~Little Black Classics #92~
Find this and other reviews on https://urlphantomhive.wordpress.com
As has been the case for many of the collected editions in the Little Black Classics, the selection of the chapters seems to have been rather random. While they provide a sample or a little taste they are not curated enough to be able to stand on their own. Same applies with Kidnapped, I will have to read the full account.
~Little Black Classics #92~
Find this and other reviews on https://urlphantomhive.wordpress.com
puttingwingsonwords's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide attempt, and Torture
Minor: Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault
nargott's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Physical abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence
mrjess_bhs's review against another edition
5.0
Equiano experienced so many different things in so many places. He recalls quite a bit of his life in Eboe before he was kidnapped and enslaved, and that is vital narrative that is often overlooked. It was quite disheartening to read how he was constantly betrayed en route to his freedom and afterwards. It is speaking deeply to me on how our systems need to be built to address injustice and be consistent, because even if we say we are for something, it doesn’t matter if others in our system act in white supremacy with impunity.
paloma_sanchezh's review
3.0
Review in English | Reseña en Español
This little Penguin book was just ok. I own a couple of editions from this collection and I find that when they are extracts from a larger book, I always end up feeling there is something missing from the text -either more plot, or background, or more in-depth information to fully enjoy the story. I am aware that the idea of this collection is to have small, easy to carry and read editions, but I feel that it doesn’t work that well if they are not short stories, novellas or poetry. Therefore, I felt a bit disappointed by Kidnapped, the story of an African slave that was taken from his village in the 18th century, served as a sailor and finally became a free man. The thing is, if I had not googled who this person was, I would not have known what we were talking about. This edition is an extract from the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, which includes only four chapters -his kidnapping, his first years as member of a crew going to the US and back to London, his participation in war, and finally how he was again sold and sent to the US. There is no information on how he became a free man, nor more background of where he was from. The writing was ok -the author is quite eloquent and mixes facts with his thoughts which I understand later served for the abolitionist movement. I guess I was expecting something along the lines of Roots, like a small glimpse of a saga, and that was not the case unfortunately. However, I believe the complete autobiography should be more satisfying.
__________
Esta edición de los Little Back Classics de Penguin estuvo regular. Tengo varios libros que forman parte de esta colección y me parece que cuando el texto es un extracto de un libro más grande, siempre termino con la sensación de que algo le falta al texto: ya sea trama, contexto o más detalles que permitan disfrutar la historia. Entiendo que el propósito de esta colección es tener a la mano libros en ediciones pequeñas, fáciles de leer y de cargar, pero en lo personal creo que no funcionan si no son cuentos, novelas o poesía. Por lo anterior, me decepcioné un poco de Kidnapped, que es la historia de un esclavo africano raptado de su pueblo en el siglo XVIII, que luego fue parte de una tripulación, vendido nuevamente a las colonias estadounidenses hasta finalmente alcanzar su libertad. La cuestión es que, si no hubiera buscado en internet quién era este señor, no hubiera entendido de qué se trataba la historia. Esta edición es un extracto de la autobiografía de Olaudah Equiano e incluye solo cuatro capítulos -su captura, sus primeros años como miembro de una tripulación que viajaba a EUA e Inglaterra, su participación en las guerras contra Francia y finalmente su venta de nuevo como esclavo y su vida en Estados Unidos. No hay más información sobre cómo se convirtió en un hombre libre ni mayor detalle sobre sus orígenes. El estilo del autor está bien -es muy elocuente y me parece interesante la mezcla de hechos y pensamientos, lo que entiendo fue muy importante para el movimiento abolicionista en ese siglo. Creo que el texto no funcionó para mí ya que esperaba algo similar a Raíces, aunque fuera una pequeña muestra de una gran saga… ye esto no fue el caso; sin embargo, no dudo que la autobiografía completa sea muy interesante.
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