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A review by octavia_cade
The Cost of Sugar by Cynthia McLeod
medium-paced
3.0
This is a very readable piece of historical fiction, but it also comes across, sometimes, as an awkward mix of subjects. Half of the novel is a look at the effects of Dutch colonialism and the sugar industry during Suriname in the 1700s, primarily through the lens of slave labour, and the examples are horrific. A quick look at the Wikipedia history of Suriname indicates that the treatment of slaves at this place and time was among the very worst, and it's not a pleasant read. It is, however, enormously sympathetic to the community of escaped slaves that started an uprising - a very successful uprising, at that - and that's a part of history that I'm not at all familiar with and would like to learn more about.
The other half of the novel is straight soap opera. It focuses on two Jewish step-sisters, one of whom is a cast-iron bitch and the other who might as well be one of Dicken's ministering angels of the home. There's even a love triangle between the two sisters and the latter's husband, and all I'm left with is a general feeling of weary disgust, because two of these people are awful and one is utterly spineless. I guess that this selfish behaviour is meant to illustrate how slave-owning can warp the moral behaviour of slave-owners in every single aspect of their life, but these people are not the victims here. Furthermore, tonally it could sometimes be jarring to go from the serious historical novel to the soap opera of staring through keyholes and throwing tantrums because the latest bout of adultery is going poorly. Am I really supposed to feel sorrow for, or interest in, Sarith's romantic and family woes after she's had someone whipped to death? Because I don't. Bitch.
The other half of the novel is straight soap opera. It focuses on two Jewish step-sisters, one of whom is a cast-iron bitch and the other who might as well be one of Dicken's ministering angels of the home. There's even a love triangle between the two sisters and the latter's husband, and all I'm left with is a general feeling of weary disgust, because two of these people are awful and one is utterly spineless. I guess that this selfish behaviour is meant to illustrate how slave-owning can warp the moral behaviour of slave-owners in every single aspect of their life, but these people are not the victims here. Furthermore, tonally it could sometimes be jarring to go from the serious historical novel to the soap opera of staring through keyholes and throwing tantrums because the latest bout of adultery is going poorly. Am I really supposed to feel sorrow for, or interest in, Sarith's romantic and family woes after she's had someone whipped to death? Because I don't. Bitch.