Jones' The Known World
Posted: 16 Feb 2012, 17:59
I have made it a point, as a writer, to go back and read all of the recent Pulitzer Prize winning novels (at least of the last 20 years). This lead me to Edward Jones' The Known World.
Initially, I started reading it and had trouble getting into the story. The language and subject matter was similar to a lot of what I have happened to have read recently (namely Brooks' March and Butler's Kindred). I felt like I was reading the same type of story--slave novel told from the point of view of a narrator who will relay the horrors of slavery involving (but not limited to) life on a plantation, tension between slaves, and issues with corrupt white officials. This book has some of that.
This book also has so much more. As a twist, this book is somewhat set up to be historically accurate (and not just in a setting that is accurate). At various times, the narrator pulls us away from character long enough to explain how a certain plot line will turn up in the future or how something resolved closer to our time--like the naming of streets or records being discovered (or in some cases destroyed). The book also deals mainly with life on a plantation owned by a black owner. Herein lies one of the interesting moral dilemmas I had not encountered: how do blacks feel about owning other blacks? What about when the owner is an ex slave (as were his parents, who saved up to buy themselves and their child)?
The book jumps from a litany of characters; however, once engaged, the reader is able to figure out who is who fairly easily, in part because the narrator is so skillful in orienting us. The characterization is engaging and (like Franzen's two most recent books), the author moves back and forth through time fluidly, rounding out the stories of characters. This was one book I wished hadn't ended.
Initially, I started reading it and had trouble getting into the story. The language and subject matter was similar to a lot of what I have happened to have read recently (namely Brooks' March and Butler's Kindred). I felt like I was reading the same type of story--slave novel told from the point of view of a narrator who will relay the horrors of slavery involving (but not limited to) life on a plantation, tension between slaves, and issues with corrupt white officials. This book has some of that.
This book also has so much more. As a twist, this book is somewhat set up to be historically accurate (and not just in a setting that is accurate). At various times, the narrator pulls us away from character long enough to explain how a certain plot line will turn up in the future or how something resolved closer to our time--like the naming of streets or records being discovered (or in some cases destroyed). The book also deals mainly with life on a plantation owned by a black owner. Herein lies one of the interesting moral dilemmas I had not encountered: how do blacks feel about owning other blacks? What about when the owner is an ex slave (as were his parents, who saved up to buy themselves and their child)?
The book jumps from a litany of characters; however, once engaged, the reader is able to figure out who is who fairly easily, in part because the narrator is so skillful in orienting us. The characterization is engaging and (like Franzen's two most recent books), the author moves back and forth through time fluidly, rounding out the stories of characters. This was one book I wished hadn't ended.