Interesting, raw story about a man running for his freedom.

Jonah, 18, is a black slave. When unjustly attacked by his owner, Jonah knows that nothing ever is going to be the same for him, he is going to be branded "thief" for ever. So he runs - instinctively, without any useful tips and tricks, just following the push to survive (and his hurt feelings). This is the story of his way. His - and the girl´s who is following him.

This is no sugar-coated story. This is also not a deep, philosophical/psychological story either. Which is good, as there is no need for "extremes" from either side here - this is "just" a story about a fight, fight for freedom. And in its raw lines we can see just how horrible the situation was, how the colored people had needed to fight for the very normal things - safety, dignity, work, food, property.

the story is also very human in the "unhumanness" of the situation - Jonah is so limited by his pure fear and his fight for his living, that he is very egoistical. He follows the primal instincts for survival. In this he is no nice, sympathetic person - but he is also very human here. Luckily, the girl, fighting for her own survival in the men´s society by using her own weaponry, has a heart who can recognize love.
This is no Dostoevsky - but his "Crime and Punishment" slightly resonates here - without all the (wonderful) philosophy, but with all of the rawness and the proverbial power of a good woman.

But my literal musings aside - this is not my obvious literary pet peeve. But it is a wise, raw book worth of your reading time.

Jonah Williams was born a slave. On his eighteenth birthday he gathers together a few stolen coins and a knife and flees the South Carolina plantation on which he was born.

With just the clothes on his back, not even a pair of shoes, he starts to run. He doesn't even have a clear idea of where to head, he just knows to go north so he follows the North Star. During the day and running through the night. Somehow he eludes the men sent to capture him, but when he meets Angel in North Carolina she decides that he is her ticket to freedom and follows him without his permission.

This is one of the books I planned to review for Black History Month last October. But when I looked up the author I found he was white and decided to leave the review till later instead. There is a debate around appropriation and as part of thought process around making such a feature of Black History Month was to put deserving black authors into the spotlight it didn't seem right to promote this book then.

But this is one of those books that has me in a quandry about the appropriation argument. On the one hand I agree that there is very real discrimination in the publishing industry and this needs to be addressed. However, slave stories are not the only stories black people have to tell and I'm equally disheartened by the lack of chick-lit,business books, crime and sci-fi written by and featuring black people as I am worried about their stories being stolen to make profit for white writers. (To be truthful few writers make a good living off their writing so that point is moot in many cases.

There is also the fact that this story was in my opinion more respectful of those that escaped slavery than Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad which re-imagined the 'underground railroad' that helped many slaves escape, as an actual real train running underground. It was a well written and widely lauded book but for me the concept was deeply flawed, particularly as so many Americans are so gullible they'll happily elect Trump.

I have to admit though that although the writing in this book is perfectly serviceable, it isn't as good as Whitehead's. The charachter development, scene setting and story are all better though so overall I would recommend this above Whitehead's book for those interested in the lives of those slaves who ran to freedom and the trials they endured. For that aspect alone it is also a better read than Roots by Alex Haley, though I'd also recommend Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi as another great read alongside this one.

4 Bites

NB I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review. The BookEaters always write honest reviews

This was a wonderful book .... I throughly enjoyed this book