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joreasonable 's review for:
The Cost of Sugar
by Cynthia McLeod
This book is written almost entirely from the point of view of the rich white colonialists, most are owners of the sugar plantations, with one of the main characters working for the bank, who often lends money to the rich white plantation owners, with the occasional chapter from the point of view of the slaves. You get to see a world where white money talks in Suriname in the 1770’s. There are some of the characters who are awful, Sarith for one, she was just despicable, although if you really think about it, all the white people in the book were not nice people. One of the slaves was Alex, a great character. I would have liked to have him as a more important character in the book.
The author Cynthia Mcleod is the daughter of Johan Ferrier, who was the first president of the country, so it is a little biased towards the white people of the country.
Although there are parts where Sarith is just a spoiled little brat, there are some raw parts, especially when the plantation is attacked by the free blacks. Now that sounds terrible doesn’t it, but, when you read the book, it was the slaves and free blacks who were the nice, kind, mistreated people in this novel.
The writing itself is not great, the character development is also not great, there are parts that drag on, and there are parts that have good engagement. but this is a great book for learning about the history of the small south american country Suriname.
I appreciated the translations and explanations (footnotes) of certain parts of the text, it certainly helped understand and added to the book.
This book taught me a little about life in the Dutch colony of Suriname from the point of view of the colonists.
I give this book 3 stars.
The next book in the read the world challenge is Friend from North Korea.
Video review in Spanish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u3b12fnNoA&list=PLniFXSpJj5RWIDC0udo2vtJsUn0Vd2HrS&index=33
The author Cynthia Mcleod is the daughter of Johan Ferrier, who was the first president of the country, so it is a little biased towards the white people of the country.
Although there are parts where Sarith is just a spoiled little brat, there are some raw parts, especially when the plantation is attacked by the free blacks. Now that sounds terrible doesn’t it, but, when you read the book, it was the slaves and free blacks who were the nice, kind, mistreated people in this novel.
The writing itself is not great, the character development is also not great, there are parts that drag on, and there are parts that have good engagement. but this is a great book for learning about the history of the small south american country Suriname.
I appreciated the translations and explanations (footnotes) of certain parts of the text, it certainly helped understand and added to the book.
This book taught me a little about life in the Dutch colony of Suriname from the point of view of the colonists.
I give this book 3 stars.
The next book in the read the world challenge is Friend from North Korea.
Video review in Spanish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u3b12fnNoA&list=PLniFXSpJj5RWIDC0udo2vtJsUn0Vd2HrS&index=33