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A review by kitsuneheart
Day of Tears by Julius Lester
5.0
A story told with interspersed "interviews" from those who attended the largest slave auction in U.S. history. We hear from the auctioned slaves, their owner, his children, and a few other parties, including one man who risked everything to help bring slaves to freedom across the Ohio River.
This is structured in such a way that it could be turned into a great play, but probably best for a very mature high school or college crew. The biggest hurdle to putting it on stage is the language, but that is also one of the best aspects of the book. And by "language," I mean frequent use of the N-word. At the beginning of the book, hearing it made me flinch, but by the end, it had been used so much that I'd stopped reacting. Not that the word had been normalized, but it was instead one of the most effective means Lester uses to show the villains of the story.
If your child is reading this, be prepared for some serious discussions, and perhaps some comfort food. It packs a punch, but that is all to its credit. Lester decided his audience needed to hear as much of the truth as they could stand, and he told it with beautiful, if often heartbreaking language.
This is structured in such a way that it could be turned into a great play, but probably best for a very mature high school or college crew. The biggest hurdle to putting it on stage is the language, but that is also one of the best aspects of the book. And by "language," I mean frequent use of the N-word. At the beginning of the book, hearing it made me flinch, but by the end, it had been used so much that I'd stopped reacting. Not that the word had been normalized, but it was instead one of the most effective means Lester uses to show the villains of the story.
If your child is reading this, be prepared for some serious discussions, and perhaps some comfort food. It packs a punch, but that is all to its credit. Lester decided his audience needed to hear as much of the truth as they could stand, and he told it with beautiful, if often heartbreaking language.