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johndiconsiglio's review
4.0
How do you solve a problem like Thomas Jefferson? This wildly experimental novel tackles the Great American Contradiction: The writer of “All men are created equal” was a slave-master who fathered children with Sally Hemings. Don’t expect a traditional historical novel. There’s plenty of Monticello & Paris, but Jefferson also rides a subway & goes to the movies with the Madisons. Sometimes he’s a great ape. And there may be tiny travelers living inside him. Most controversial is the conflicted inner life imagined for Hemings. Daring. You might be baffled or even offended. You’ll certainly be challenged.
hkihm's review
4.0
REALLY mixed feelings about this one. It was about as good as a book on this subject matter could possibly be, which is very much damning with faint praise, no? It explores the power dynamic between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in lots of different ways - recasting the main characters as 1) two equals on the subway in modern day; 2) black female prison guard and white prisoner; 3) white art student and color, 4) Dominant male ape; 5) through Thomas Jefferson's writings as well as their descendants' memoirs. Throughout the book I felt an ickiness to the whole thing, which is perhaps the point. Sally Hemings's possible conflicted feelings throughout the "relationship" were explored thoroughly, and Thomas Jefferson's hypocrisy on the subject of slavery was very much at the forefront of the book. All that made the ending with the selling off of Monticello's slaves after Jefferson's death all the more devastating.
emilybryk's review
3.0
Let's say that my 3 star review is because I have no idea where and how to rank it.
On one hand: especially in early-on passages, there's a lot of pretty serious work done to imagine 1) how utterly broken Jefferson's early life may have made him, emotionally and 2) how utterly awful (and entirely nonconsensual) his relationship with Hemings was. It's made very explicit that it's rape and that she is trying her best to survive being essentially trapped. (Some reviews don't make note of this, and I think that it's pretty important to point out. It's basically the redeeming factor.)
On the other: this is a book that, as a woman, is clearly Written By A Man. And in a lot of very small moments, Mr. O'Connor's way of imagining how Hemings reacted, how she thought, how she adapted, was really jarring and troubling. And as a white woman, I'm 100% willing to acknowledge and accept that there are a *lot* of moments, I bet, that would also make this clearly Written By A White Man. I'm not sure how to put this correctly: I think he took on a difficult topic to handle sensitively and appropriately (because there IS a lot of significance to say about the experience of Hemings), and in many ways I'm not sure that he's up to the challenge, or even that just about anyone is up to the challenge.
On one hand: especially in early-on passages, there's a lot of pretty serious work done to imagine 1) how utterly broken Jefferson's early life may have made him, emotionally and 2) how utterly awful (and entirely nonconsensual) his relationship with Hemings was. It's made very explicit that it's rape and that she is trying her best to survive being essentially trapped. (Some reviews don't make note of this, and I think that it's pretty important to point out. It's basically the redeeming factor.)
On the other: this is a book that, as a woman, is clearly Written By A Man. And in a lot of very small moments, Mr. O'Connor's way of imagining how Hemings reacted, how she thought, how she adapted, was really jarring and troubling. And as a white woman, I'm 100% willing to acknowledge and accept that there are a *lot* of moments, I bet, that would also make this clearly Written By A White Man. I'm not sure how to put this correctly: I think he took on a difficult topic to handle sensitively and appropriately (because there IS a lot of significance to say about the experience of Hemings), and in many ways I'm not sure that he's up to the challenge, or even that just about anyone is up to the challenge.
athenany's review
3.0
If ever a book needed a half star, this is it. I would have given it 3.5. The book is fascinating in its way, and the subject matter is so intriguing that it is impossible not to be drawn in. On the other hand, it is just weird. Yes, I know that is a stylistic choice. I don't mind the dream sequences and I'm not so old-fashioned that I can't take a little post-modernism thrown in. But some of the fragments really take away from the flow of the story. Perhaps that is the intent, but if so that style is not for me.
Taken on its own, the representation of Jefferson's and Hemings's relationship is quite good. I'm glad I read it. If you are interested, don't be put off by the size of the book. It looks huge, but some of the pages have a single sentence. I read it in only a few days.
Taken on its own, the representation of Jefferson's and Hemings's relationship is quite good. I'm glad I read it. If you are interested, don't be put off by the size of the book. It looks huge, but some of the pages have a single sentence. I read it in only a few days.
findyourgoldenhour's review
5.0
A brilliant original book. Don't be intimidated by the page length! I want to give it a more in depth review but I feel like I can't do it justice. Highly recommend!
princessfabulous's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
eemolu's review
3.0
This book was so weird. A good weird, but weird all the same- it was a conglomerate of a million different thoughts, and some of the exchanges went way over my head (they were walking around inside Jefferson, and what was up with the prisoner?) but all in all I liked it a lot. And I even learned some stuff, so that's a win.
lordsbyron's review against another edition
not quite sure i know how to translate my very complicated feelings towards this into a binary number — perhaps i’ll just have to sit with it some more.