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A review by lburton
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
4.75
I don't know why this took me so long to read (actually I do know why, because I paused this book and read two entire books before coming back to it) because it's pretty fast paced and as enjoyable as a book about a slave could ever be. Washington Black is born into slavery on a Barbados plantation and is taken in as an assistant by his master's eccentric brother Titch, an inventor/explorer/abolitionist. The two escape and travel the world, etc.
I thought it was an interesting choice for this book to focus so much on Titch, since he essentially serves as a white savior in this narrative, and the book is written by a black woman. But because I couldn't think of another way to tell this story (he wouldn't get very far in the 1830s without a white person helping him) I let that slide for a good chunk of the book, even though it kind of nagged at me. I won't give spoilers but this issue is addressed toward the end, and handled in a brilliant way. It really pushed the book into five star territory for me.
I thought it was an interesting choice for this book to focus so much on Titch, since he essentially serves as a white savior in this narrative, and the book is written by a black woman. But because I couldn't think of another way to tell this story (he wouldn't get very far in the 1830s without a white person helping him) I let that slide for a good chunk of the book, even though it kind of nagged at me. I won't give spoilers but this issue is addressed toward the end, and handled in a brilliant way. It really pushed the book into five star territory for me.