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A review by kidclamp
The Conjure Woman by Charles W. Chesnutt
4.0
Inspired by the feeling of a lack of knowledge while I was reading 'Nigger Heaven' I thought I would try out some Chesnutt as he was a favorite of the female lead in the other book. This ended up being one of those books that I am surprised has not been more widely acknowledged or read.
The book is a collection of short stories, told by an ex-slave to the two white northerners who buy the plantation he used to belong to. Hired as their chauffeur he relates tales of the plantation, usually with some sort of moral, and usually to his own benefit. Told in deep dialect this book covers many southern folk-tales and beliefs of the slaves.
Once again, like with 'Nigger Heaven', I still feel like I don't know enough about the literature of the time or the history to really judge this book but I personally enjoyed it. The dialect can be a bit rough at times, and I never did quite figure out how some of the words should sound, but it didn't detract from the stories at all and really did help them feel authentic.
With the clever depiction of the ex-slave leading his employers to makes choices benefitting him in the end, even though they were aware of his motives, and the attention to preserving the dialects I don't really know why this book isn't more well known and read along side of Twain and other southern writers. Highly recommended by me
The book is a collection of short stories, told by an ex-slave to the two white northerners who buy the plantation he used to belong to. Hired as their chauffeur he relates tales of the plantation, usually with some sort of moral, and usually to his own benefit. Told in deep dialect this book covers many southern folk-tales and beliefs of the slaves.
Once again, like with 'Nigger Heaven', I still feel like I don't know enough about the literature of the time or the history to really judge this book but I personally enjoyed it. The dialect can be a bit rough at times, and I never did quite figure out how some of the words should sound, but it didn't detract from the stories at all and really did help them feel authentic.
With the clever depiction of the ex-slave leading his employers to makes choices benefitting him in the end, even though they were aware of his motives, and the attention to preserving the dialects I don't really know why this book isn't more well known and read along side of Twain and other southern writers. Highly recommended by me