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ultimatekate's review
3.0
This book is historical fiction, based on the fact that there was a small number of African-Americans who owned slaves in the South. It was an interesting premise, and told the story of a family/plantation. Touching and moving.
khaliah's review
5.0
This book is just so damn good...I will admit It took me a little while to really dig in, but when I did...Phenomenal.
heathicusmaximus's review
2.0
(Spoilers) Ugh. It's disconnected, scattered, and so time-switchy you'd think you were in a Doctor Strange movie. It probably won the Pulitzer prize because it dealt with slavery, but I've never seen so many plot holes. For example, twenty years down the road 'x' person would end up doing 'y'. It never goes into it, the author just leaves me hanging as if their story never mattered, it happens so many times. And suddenly at the end, a main character gets murdered by his relative without much of a follow up story or motive and that man's story was cut short with no closure. Was it because of different views of slavery? No one knows.
Where's the justice for this guy who was resold into slavery? Or the ones who were killed? Oh yeah, the speculators were caught by someone else in a different state, never gone into, just written out in a closer chapter. The white master is also written off after a while. He's one of the two most wealthy men in the county, and he just gives up? What? And does this slave that supposedly wasn't one ever get his money back? No one knows, that story seemed to just disappear. Some parts were like I was on a hallucinogenic high with the imagery that made no sense. This read hurt my brain.
One of the good things it has going for it is showing all the moral inconsistencies of slavery. In that, the confusion makes sense. That's powerful enough, so that gets its own star.
Where's the justice for this guy who was resold into slavery? Or the ones who were killed? Oh yeah, the speculators were caught by someone else in a different state, never gone into, just written out in a closer chapter. The white master is also written off after a while. He's one of the two most wealthy men in the county, and he just gives up? What? And does this slave that supposedly wasn't one ever get his money back? No one knows, that story seemed to just disappear. Some parts were like I was on a hallucinogenic high with the imagery that made no sense. This read hurt my brain.
One of the good things it has going for it is showing all the moral inconsistencies of slavery. In that, the confusion makes sense. That's powerful enough, so that gets its own star.
book_concierge's review
5.0
What an extraordinary work! Henry Townsend, once a slave but now a free man, has his own plantation, and nearly 50 slaves. The lives of whites, free blacks and slaves are interconnected on so many levels. Layers of nuance - expectation, reality, societal roles, how people adapt and adjust, justice and especially injustice. Beautifully written!
The writing style and extensive character list requires some work on the part of the reader, but it's well worth it. It reads much like an oral history, and that means that you may go off on a tangent for a while. It certainly treats slavery from a different perspective - Black owners of slaves.
The writing style and extensive character list requires some work on the part of the reader, but it's well worth it. It reads much like an oral history, and that means that you may go off on a tangent for a while. It certainly treats slavery from a different perspective - Black owners of slaves.
eahaynes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
robertlashley's review
5.0
The skeleton key to this book for me is that Jones is one of the most faithful readers of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Years Of Solitude.
No, there are no kalfka-esque narrative turns or blood running in the streets, but If you look at the meat and potatoes of Solitude, you can see generations of Buendia's believing in ego-centric fantastical ideas of power and glory at the expense of the human being, and using whatever state means to achieve it throughout history. In showing slavery poisons Henry and Cordelia Townsend and everything they touch/ that touches it, Jones has created a tremendously powerful novel about how inhumanity is corrosive the human condition on so many levels( those who it is affected by, those who claims it, those who give into it, and those who encompass the aforementioned 3)
All of this is of course burnished by how goddamn well he can write. Along with short stories, The Known World makes the case for Jones to be right with Salman Rushdie and Louise Erdrich as the third generation of boom writers, as you can see the influences of Garcia Marquez and-in the way he can encompass so much into place and character dynamic, the Early Faulkner so entranced by Gustave Flaubert. (You can also read a lot of Hurston in his excellent story collections)
I kinda miss him, but he's done enough. Still one of my faves.
No, there are no kalfka-esque narrative turns or blood running in the streets, but If you look at the meat and potatoes of Solitude, you can see generations of Buendia's believing in ego-centric fantastical ideas of power and glory at the expense of the human being, and using whatever state means to achieve it throughout history. In showing slavery poisons Henry and Cordelia Townsend and everything they touch/ that touches it, Jones has created a tremendously powerful novel about how inhumanity is corrosive the human condition on so many levels( those who it is affected by, those who claims it, those who give into it, and those who encompass the aforementioned 3)
All of this is of course burnished by how goddamn well he can write. Along with short stories, The Known World makes the case for Jones to be right with Salman Rushdie and Louise Erdrich as the third generation of boom writers, as you can see the influences of Garcia Marquez and-in the way he can encompass so much into place and character dynamic, the Early Faulkner so entranced by Gustave Flaubert. (You can also read a lot of Hurston in his excellent story collections)
I kinda miss him, but he's done enough. Still one of my faves.
maggersann's review
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
An expertly woven tale of intersecting lives. Each character was so unique and vibrant (so much so that I needed detailed character maps to remind myself how they all connected). You have to work for this one, but I think it was worth it.
ymrana's review
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
3.5
Interesting book but I don't know if I was in the right headspace to really digest this book. I had a hard time with the timelines.