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annreadsabook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Washington Black is quite the engaging read. It follows a young enslaved boy by the name of George Washington Black (”Wash”), whose brutal enslaver in Barbados hands him over to the latter’s eccentric and seemingly kindly inventor and abolitionist brother Titch. Wash accompanies Titch on his often half-baked scientific endeavors, and over the course of their relationship begins to find himself having a more hopeful outlook on life. But when Wash is falsely implicated in a man’s death, he must flee Barbados.
I found this book’s exploration of enslavement, racial dynamics, and agency so interesting. While at first I was wary of this book playing into the false and harmful “kindly master” narrative, Edugyan highlights the many ways in which white abolitionists viewed enslaved people as simply another Christian cause to pat themselves on the backs about. It troubles the narrative that many kids were fed in history class: that all white abolitionists were goodly humans who genuinely cared for Black people and viewed us as their equals. And I think there’s an interesting metaphor underlying a lot of this tale (I won’t spoil it here but if you’ve read it I’d love to hear your thoughts—DM me lol).
There were times at which I wished Wash’s love interest, who appears later on in the book, was more fleshed out, since she acts as an interesting foil to Wash but we only see very small snippets of her character. And sometimes I felt that Wash’s refusal to believe that certain white abolitionists were not all that they seemed a bit hard to believe, considering how bright Wash was (but, of course, we know that often it is hard to distance oneself from whiteness).
Anyway, all this is to say that I really liked this one and am glad I finally picked it up! I’d been intrigued by this one for a while, particularly since it was shortlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize. If you’re looking to get into historical fiction, this might be a good place to start.
I found this book’s exploration of enslavement, racial dynamics, and agency so interesting. While at first I was wary of this book playing into the false and harmful “kindly master” narrative, Edugyan highlights the many ways in which white abolitionists viewed enslaved people as simply another Christian cause to pat themselves on the backs about. It troubles the narrative that many kids were fed in history class: that all white abolitionists were goodly humans who genuinely cared for Black people and viewed us as their equals. And I think there’s an interesting metaphor underlying a lot of this tale (I won’t spoil it here but if you’ve read it I’d love to hear your thoughts—DM me lol).
There were times at which I wished Wash’s love interest, who appears later on in the book, was more fleshed out, since she acts as an interesting foil to Wash but we only see very small snippets of her character. And sometimes I felt that Wash’s refusal to believe that certain white abolitionists were not all that they seemed a bit hard to believe, considering how bright Wash was (but, of course, we know that often it is hard to distance oneself from whiteness).
Anyway, all this is to say that I really liked this one and am glad I finally picked it up! I’d been intrigued by this one for a while, particularly since it was shortlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize. If you’re looking to get into historical fiction, this might be a good place to start.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Slavery, and Suicide
Moderate: Ableism
schuy's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Murder, Classism, and Ableism
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