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lisa_and_her_books's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting read and I appreciate that this mans' story was able to be told because I think that it was important not just from a larger, historical perspective, but for Oluale Kossola's sake as well.
However, I really don't think there was enough information here for a book. The actual account is 96 pages and the rest of the book is a ton of extraneous material to pad it. There are two introductions, an editor's note, several of Kossola's stories, and an afterword. What's worse is that if you read the first introduction, it essentially renders the rest of the book redundant because it gives you a broad overview.
And again, I do believe that this story should be told but there aren't a ton of details or a distinctive point of view provided that make it stand out once you've read the general summary of it. Obviously this is someone's personal story of a truly dark period in their life as well as our history so I don't expect nor want embellishment. But, Kossola's is not much of a storyteller and Zora Neale Hurston writes it just as he says it while providing very little context. It reads like an interview you'd see in a newspaper. Hurston visited Kossola over the course of several months, and while she makes it clear he didn't always want to speak to her and he had every right to safeguard his deeper thoughts (also it had been a long time he could genuinely have not remembered some things either way) I had this feeling of 'this is all she got after x amount of time?'
I think the real issue is that because it's a book I had certain expectations. I truly believe though that this would have been better suited as an online article or as part of a compilation of tales similar to this one. As a standalone it just doesn't measure up.
However, I really don't think there was enough information here for a book. The actual account is 96 pages and the rest of the book is a ton of extraneous material to pad it. There are two introductions, an editor's note, several of Kossola's stories, and an afterword. What's worse is that if you read the first introduction, it essentially renders the rest of the book redundant because it gives you a broad overview.
And again, I do believe that this story should be told but there aren't a ton of details or a distinctive point of view provided that make it stand out once you've read the general summary of it. Obviously this is someone's personal story of a truly dark period in their life as well as our history so I don't expect nor want embellishment. But, Kossola's is not much of a storyteller and Zora Neale Hurston writes it just as he says it while providing very little context. It reads like an interview you'd see in a newspaper. Hurston visited Kossola over the course of several months, and while she makes it clear he didn't always want to speak to her and he had every right to safeguard his deeper thoughts (also it had been a long time he could genuinely have not remembered some things either way) I had this feeling of 'this is all she got after x amount of time?'
I think the real issue is that because it's a book I had certain expectations. I truly believe though that this would have been better suited as an online article or as part of a compilation of tales similar to this one. As a standalone it just doesn't measure up.
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
2.0
I suppose why this intriguing book ends up being just mediocre is because of the perceived and anticipated content versus the actual content. I was expecting a great deal of information on what a life in Civil War era slavery was like. That ended up just being a few pages. The majority of the book was Cudjo relating biblical stories and African myths and anecdotes about life in Alabama post-slavery. There was also an extended introduction about why we should forget Hurston’s flirtation with plagiarism and consider this a major book in her canon of journalism.
bentheoverlordsbooks's review against another edition
This was a very interesting story, and one thats hard to rate, because its mostly a recount of a mans life from his POV. I did like the forward that gave the writing of this novel in its historical context, and Kossula "Cudjo Lewis" story is a great one, especially with him recounting his life back in Africa. I think Id like this bound up in future with more essays from ZNH as my only issue is that its quite short, due to it being an interview, and thus I feel if paired with essays it might expand the context.
That being said I am very glad I read this, and ZNH is fast becoming an all time fav author.
Its rare that someone can write Nonfic and fic as good as this so Im very excited to see what's next in my ZNH journey.
That being said I am very glad I read this, and ZNH is fast becoming an all time fav author.
Its rare that someone can write Nonfic and fic as good as this so Im very excited to see what's next in my ZNH journey.
aposternak's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5