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Forty Acres: A Thriller
by Andre Blake, Dwayne Alexander Smith
Prompt 34 of the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge : "a book about a social justice issue"
CW sexual assault, slavery, violence, racially motivated violence in flashbacks
This book got overwhelmingly good reviews so, out of curiosity, I read the bad ones. The surprising thing is, I didn't disagree with most of what they said, even though I gave it a positive rating.
The premise seems far-fetched, agreed, but -excuse my cynicism here - have we already forgotten the Epstein scandal? Very rich and powerful people can absolutely operate frighteningly large networks of horrifically criminal activities. If he can have an island full of trafficked children, why not this fictional millionaire having a compound full of slaves?
The premise will make some bristle - this is a book about racism but it does not portray victims and perpetrators with the clarity that we may expect. This is a tale of greed, toxic masculinity, and revenge, as well as about racism.
I do agree with the comments questioning the way women are portrayed here but, in my opinion, it is meant to be a commentary. The Forty Acres men's wives are little more than arm candy, and are expected to sit out the club membership and are even expected to sip cocktails and cluck about fashion while the men talk about Business and smoke cigars, even if many of those women are their husband's business partners. This, I believe is part of the commentary on the nature of the club too; the Forty Acres men's revenge is, for all their philosophical and sociological talk, little more than self-serving. For all their alleged desire of reparation, the Black men of the Forty Acres club do not extend their supremacy to Black women. For all their talks of giving back, their club is still extremely exclusive and limited to already very affluent people and intends, partially, on making them even more successful, which isn't exactly doing wonders for the many unfairly disenfranchised black people.
This, to me, only adds depth to the commentary. It is my opinion that if we truly want to be progressive, we must stop considering marginalized communities as monolithic, and recognise that they have just as many complexities, just as much history and complexity in social startas. One of the greatest faults of feminism and of the LGBTQ liberation movement is that they traditionally failed to take in account the complexities of the interactions that exist among women, among members of the LGBTQ "community", excluding the particular conditions of double-marginalized people like, for example, women and queer people of colour.
Furthermore, the wives, in a true replica of the plantation era typical white woman, are complacent/willfully ignorant of their husband's cruelty, reaping the benefits of the privileged and wealthy life that forced labour allows them, showing their own corruption. This brief subplot, as well as the collaboration of the park angers and other white people, briefly put me in mind of Kacen Callender's fantasy work [b:Queen of the Conquered|44286509|Queen of the Conquered (Islands of Blood and Storm, #1)|Kacen Callender|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558621776l/44286509._SX50_.jpg|68803579]
Howeverrrr, there is a bit about Anna worrying about her husband's fidelity for no other reason than his success, even if Martin is an absolutely devoted husband. The language she uses there about having to make sure to keep her man was a bit cringe-inducing in the grand scheme of how women were portrayed.
Also, even if it does come from a villain, I want to point out and commend the explicit inclusion of a bisexual character, a bisexual man of colour at that (probably one of the most under represented LBGTQ demographics in fiction) including a frank discussion of the prejudice he would face both within his communities and out.
And now that this has been said, let's keep in mind that this is a thriller. Though it does include what can be understood as a poignant commentary, one shouldn't expect academic work or some deep character analysis.
As far as pace goes, the majority of the book is very tense and kind of reminded me of Jordan Peele's Get Out. The last quarter is a taut, tv-thriller style chase/rescue mission involving explosives and the FBI and ending in TV reporters. I mean, I did finish it in one day.
CW sexual assault, slavery, violence, racially motivated violence in flashbacks
This book got overwhelmingly good reviews so, out of curiosity, I read the bad ones. The surprising thing is, I didn't disagree with most of what they said, even though I gave it a positive rating.
The premise seems far-fetched, agreed, but -excuse my cynicism here - have we already forgotten the Epstein scandal? Very rich and powerful people can absolutely operate frighteningly large networks of horrifically criminal activities. If he can have an island full of trafficked children, why not this fictional millionaire having a compound full of slaves?
The premise will make some bristle - this is a book about racism but it does not portray victims and perpetrators with the clarity that we may expect. This is a tale of greed, toxic masculinity, and revenge, as well as about racism.
I do agree with the comments questioning the way women are portrayed here but, in my opinion, it is meant to be a commentary. The Forty Acres men's wives are little more than arm candy, and are expected to sit out the club membership and are even expected to sip cocktails and cluck about fashion while the men talk about Business and smoke cigars, even if many of those women are their husband's business partners. This, I believe is part of the commentary on the nature of the club too; the Forty Acres men's revenge is, for all their philosophical and sociological talk, little more than self-serving. For all their alleged desire of reparation, the Black men of the Forty Acres club do not extend their supremacy to Black women. For all their talks of giving back, their club is still extremely exclusive and limited to already very affluent people and intends, partially, on making them even more successful, which isn't exactly doing wonders for the many unfairly disenfranchised black people.
This, to me, only adds depth to the commentary. It is my opinion that if we truly want to be progressive, we must stop considering marginalized communities as monolithic, and recognise that they have just as many complexities, just as much history and complexity in social startas. One of the greatest faults of feminism and of the LGBTQ liberation movement is that they traditionally failed to take in account the complexities of the interactions that exist among women, among members of the LGBTQ "community", excluding the particular conditions of double-marginalized people like, for example, women and queer people of colour.
Furthermore, the wives, in a true replica of the plantation era typical white woman, are complacent/willfully ignorant of their husband's cruelty, reaping the benefits of the privileged and wealthy life that forced labour allows them, showing their own corruption. This brief subplot, as well as the collaboration of the park angers and other white people, briefly put me in mind of Kacen Callender's fantasy work [b:Queen of the Conquered|44286509|Queen of the Conquered (Islands of Blood and Storm, #1)|Kacen Callender|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558621776l/44286509._SX50_.jpg|68803579]
Howeverrrr, there is a bit about Anna worrying about her husband's fidelity for no other reason than his success, even if Martin is an absolutely devoted husband. The language she uses there about having to make sure to keep her man was a bit cringe-inducing in the grand scheme of how women were portrayed.
Also, even if it does come from a villain, I want to point out and commend the explicit inclusion of a bisexual character, a bisexual man of colour at that (probably one of the most under represented LBGTQ demographics in fiction) including a frank discussion of the prejudice he would face both within his communities and out.
And now that this has been said, let's keep in mind that this is a thriller. Though it does include what can be understood as a poignant commentary, one shouldn't expect academic work or some deep character analysis.
As far as pace goes, the majority of the book is very tense and kind of reminded me of Jordan Peele's Get Out. The last quarter is a taut, tv-thriller style chase/rescue mission involving explosives and the FBI and ending in TV reporters. I mean, I did finish it in one day.