The Known World, Edward P. Jones
386 pages, @2003
Sorry that I was MIA last week guys! I don’t know, I just felt like I needed a little break to veg, have no fear, I won’t make it a regular occurence.
The Known World has been on my bookshelf (or my mom’s) since it came out in 2003. I remember when this book came out it had a lot of buzz surrounding it and it won the Pulitzer Prize to boot. A friend of mine also let me know that Edward P. Jones, the author, was a Holy Cross grad, which made me that much more excited to read it.
Henry Townsend, was freed from slavery by his parents when he was a teenager. A favorite of his master, William Robbins, when he went into his own business he solicited Mr. Robbins assistance and became one of the best bootmakers in Virginia. After building up some wealth he bought his own land, built a house and started a farm. Then he purchased his first slave. He continuously sought the help and tutelage of Mr. Robbins as he built his farm and continued to purchase more slaves. His farm was very orderly and he never overstepped the boundaries of the law. However, after his untimely death, his wife Caldonia, is unable to keep order. Jones explores slavery in every light.
I wanted to love this book . A unique story, a Holy Cross grad, a Pulitzer Prize winner, I kept telling myself I would feel rewarded when I finished, but unfortunately that just wasn’t the case. The book had too many characters and it was hard to follow the windering story arc. As soon as you got used to one story involving some of the characters, he would move on to another story line with other characters and I felt like I was starting all over again. It all wove together in the end but I just didn’t find it riveting or really even that interesting. I was incredibly disappointed that I didn’t love it. I’m not sure if any of you have read Toni Morrison, but in away he reminded me of Morrison, but just not quite as lyrical. Her books (I’ve only read 3 so this is a generalization) are very all over the place with cirular stories that you can’t understand until you finish the entire book.
Overall I would not recommend this book at all. It was long, tedious, and if I was someone who put books down and didn’t eventually finish them, I wouldn’t have finished it. I would be curious though, if you read it and liked it, to hear what you liked about it. So if that’s you – post a comment.
Rating: 2 stars
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