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A review by andrewspink
Hoe duur was de suiker? by Cynthia McLeod
3.0
The book tells the story of the Dutch plantations built on slavery in Suriname in the mid 1700s. As such it is a gripping and painful story. It clearly reveals the gross injustices underpinning the wealth of the 'golden age' and also the economic instability of that system.
The books tells this story not with statistics but literature. That is where it is (imho) somewhat less successful. The characters are a little flat and stereotypical. The author has chosen to make the central character a thoroughly dislikable women. That's not such fun. I wonder if she is supposed to be a metaphor for Holland, in which case it is excusable, but otherwise giving more prominance to a character from the slaves or the escaped slaves could have given it a more positive twist.
The books tells this story not with statistics but literature. That is where it is (imho) somewhat less successful. The characters are a little flat and stereotypical. The author has chosen to make the central character a thoroughly dislikable women. That's not such fun. I wonder if she is supposed to be a metaphor for Holland, in which case it is excusable, but otherwise giving more prominance to a character from the slaves or the escaped slaves could have given it a more positive twist.