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2.84 AVERAGE
2.84 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
if "im not racist i just think black people arent white people" wasn't a book. very exploitive and usually i like to exploit men. rather boring and this is my second time reading it. depressing and aggressive
I did not love the writing of this novel, particularly because it is steeped in racism and sexism. I recognize that is a product of the time period, but that does not excuse the behavior and thoughts. The end was quite graphic and disturbing. I read this for British Lit to 1800.
i am obsessed with this book, im not even kidding. ive read this version, the norton critical edition version, thomas southernes revision of behns text (that makes imoinda a white woman, which totally changes everything about the text), used my paper written on it, southerne, and [b:toni morrison|6149|Beloved|Toni Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299s/6149.jpg|736076]s beloved as my writing sample for graduate school applications (and totally got in -- thanks, aphra!), and have spent the past two years thinking of ways to connect it to dictee, by theresa cha. so yeah, you can say im enamored of it.
there are so many questions to be asked about the text -- why does the tiger change sex? why does the narrator keep distancing herself from the violence going in by disappearing from the scene, but claims that everything she says is absolutely true and an eyewitness account? why all the greek imagery when describing our two main characters? is it really an indictment of slavery if oroonoko himself owned slaves? whats up with all this incest in old british stuff?
and so on, and so forth.
there are so many questions to be asked about the text -- why does the tiger change sex? why does the narrator keep distancing herself from the violence going in by disappearing from the scene, but claims that everything she says is absolutely true and an eyewitness account? why all the greek imagery when describing our two main characters? is it really an indictment of slavery if oroonoko himself owned slaves? whats up with all this incest in old british stuff?
and so on, and so forth.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I remember reading this in my "Reading Women Writers", a tongue twister of a class that covered Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Caryl Churchill, and this book by Aphra Behn. While I don't remember much about this book since that was 22 years ago, I do remember enjoying it and being surprised that I enjoyed it since it was written in the 1600s.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Feels weird to review something such as this. It’s an important work of prose not only for its historical context on the evolution of the novel but for it it’s history. This prose is 17th century and for its time would have been considered very progressive (in fact it was seen as that). However, we are in the 21st century which makes it hard. It is flat out racist. With that in mind the prose is important. I would give Behn’s writing a 4 or 5 star but I struggle to separate the prose from the racism personally.