A few years ago I read an entire book before realizing I had already read it. I looked back at my Goodreads read list and realized I had no memory of about half of the books on there. So I built a new habit – (almost) every time I finish a book, I word-vomit my thoughts and emotions into a note on my phone. Sometimes they’re brief, sometimes they’re long-longwinded, sometimes they just ramble…and now I’m putting them here. Please enjoy the madness.
SPOILERS AHEAD…
“What is freedom?” I made a note of that in this book when the main character is considering being “free” in slavery vs. confined in freedom. This was the darkest of the three books I read in a row. All had their violence but The Water Dancer was much more poetic and obviously had a happier ending and Kindred didn’t center around an actual slave. Both of those also got more tied up with a bow than this. I do wonder a bit what my impression would be if I hadn’t read those first. This one felt like it took a more traditional stance on slave owners being horrendous and irredeemable while the others (to some degree) looked at them as a product of their time, even victims of it in their own way. This book really drove home the hopelessness of slavery.
No matter where you went, there was the threat of being dragged back (except possibly the west? Were there slaves there?) It highlighted an interesting concept of black people who were also part of the slavery machine, actively helping to keep others in chains. And the prejudice of slaves who earned their freedom toward those who ran. It reminds me of the current immigration debate where I have seen immigrants talk about how wrong it is for people to come in illegally. I would have thought that someone who had been through it would be more sympathetic but it may foster more of an “if I did it right so can they” stance.
It’s hard to tell if she had a happy ending or if it just ended. I guess that’s kind of the point though? I also found the underlying hatred toward her mother an interesting choice. Was she justified in it? Was it a defense mechanism? It also didn’t diminish once she herself ran and saw the demands of it and the danger and how having a child with you would make it impossible…again, going through it didn’t seem to make her more sympathetic to someone else who had. The mother’s true fate was heartbreaking. And shows the importance of the story we tell ourselves and perspective.