Blog Post #1

The Book of Negroes 

My general impression of this novel is that it is a highly detailed and very accurate depiction of a possible life story for a female slave who was taken from her home in Africa. This novel reminded me a lot of 12 Years a Slave which also follows a slave as he is removed from his family and shuffled across the country by various slave traders and owners. The similarities between both of the journeys on the whole—ultimately leading to freedom in both stories—and the detailed accounts of the cruelty of what was done to these slaves created a bit of a patchwork quilt in my head between the 2 stories and it was almost as though I expected the characters might cross paths with each other. I have found this novel to be extremely graphic and descriptive which creates vivid images for the reader, although these images tend to be rather unpleasant. For example, when the slave ship landed in the U.S. many of the slaves had diarrhea which was graphically described, as was the solution of plugging their rectums with grass. Also, the first person narrative stays true to who the protagonist is, things are not described how we would in the society we live in, they are described by a female slave. One example of this accurate narrative is when Aminata gets her first period, but instead of describing it as such she refers to it as her “first bleeding” and “coming of womanhood”. Additionally, I find that Aminata is an extremely interesting character to follow through this journey because she has skills that will create events in the plot that would surely otherwise not be possible. During her journey in the desert Aminata displays her skills as a midwife when she has to deliver an infant with virtually no help and very few supplies. She also is developing the ability to read the Qur’an and most African girls at this time were not given the opportunity to learn to read. Overall, I think that this strong female lead paired with a graphic and gut wrenching plot will create a very strong literary work that will keep readers on the edge of their seat.