Saturday, March 30, 2013

The Book of Negroes (Lawrence Hill)




This is one amazing book. I actually bought it as a discard a few years ago at the library, but never got around to reading it. Everyone I knew that had read it only had good things to say. This month, happily, it was the book for my adult book club.

It is the story of a woman named Aminata Diallo, a black woman torn from her family as an 11 year old and sold as a slave. Her story is unimaginable. Sometimes, while I was reading, I found myself all tensed up, like when I watch UFC with my husband. The things she went through are astounding. The author tells the story quite matter of factory. There is no long drawn out description of abuse, or loss, or more. It simply happens, Aminata tells how it was, and it just continues on. It is astounding the things that humans will do to one another. All through it all, all she can think of is freedom and she never loses sight of that her entire life.

Aminata's resilience is interesting. The way she is able to avoid rape, becomes favoured by her owners, and cheats death again and again is almost unbelievable.

All in all, it is a great read. The story is gripping and humbling. Definitely worth reading.

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