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A review by heathicusmaximus
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
2.0
(Spoilers) Ugh. It's disconnected, scattered, and so time-switchy you'd think you were in a Doctor Strange movie. It probably won the Pulitzer prize because it dealt with slavery, but I've never seen so many plot holes. For example, twenty years down the road 'x' person would end up doing 'y'. It never goes into it, the author just leaves me hanging as if their story never mattered, it happens so many times. And suddenly at the end, a main character gets murdered by his relative without much of a follow up story or motive and that man's story was cut short with no closure. Was it because of different views of slavery? No one knows.
Where's the justice for this guy who was resold into slavery? Or the ones who were killed? Oh yeah, the speculators were caught by someone else in a different state, never gone into, just written out in a closer chapter. The white master is also written off after a while. He's one of the two most wealthy men in the county, and he just gives up? What? And does this slave that supposedly wasn't one ever get his money back? No one knows, that story seemed to just disappear. Some parts were like I was on a hallucinogenic high with the imagery that made no sense. This read hurt my brain.
One of the good things it has going for it is showing all the moral inconsistencies of slavery. In that, the confusion makes sense. That's powerful enough, so that gets its own star.
Where's the justice for this guy who was resold into slavery? Or the ones who were killed? Oh yeah, the speculators were caught by someone else in a different state, never gone into, just written out in a closer chapter. The white master is also written off after a while. He's one of the two most wealthy men in the county, and he just gives up? What? And does this slave that supposedly wasn't one ever get his money back? No one knows, that story seemed to just disappear. Some parts were like I was on a hallucinogenic high with the imagery that made no sense. This read hurt my brain.
One of the good things it has going for it is showing all the moral inconsistencies of slavery. In that, the confusion makes sense. That's powerful enough, so that gets its own star.