The Known World

***** The Known World was unique among fiction books I have read in the last twenty years or so. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I would not call it an easy read, because it was some work to keep track of all of the different characters, but nevertheless, so very well worth it. Despite the work, it was entertaining. Like other reviewers, it kept me up at night, and kept me reading. The book caused me to wonder how I would behave had I the same cultural background as the various characters in the book---the white slave owners, black slave owners, the black slaves. I had always thought before that I "of course" would be against slavery, would fight for rights for all races, and absolutely never do anything so repulsive as to own slaves. I wondered how anyone ever could! The Known World opened my eyes to how this could happen, and how easily one of those slaveowners---black or white---could have been me. Or how easily I could have been a slave. It also provided insight into the psychological world of the slave. All of this was done by showing, not telling, so the reading was more of a powerful emotional experience rather than an intellectual experience. What made this so different for me is that I picked this book soley upon the Amazon reviews and rankings. I had no inherent interest in American history or race relations or the Civil War era, but this book GOT me interested. I think that the only person who would not enjoy this book would be the person who is not open or interested in challenging themselves, not interested in thinking, or afraid to find out about or explore the dark side of the human experience. Because of the complexity of the book, as far as the feelings of the characters, the layers of meaning, and the strong impact, I know that I will read this book again and again, and am therefore glad that I spent the money to get it in hardback. It is well worth the money, and is a beautiful "rough cut" book. I have thought about its message again and again since reading it; I would call it haunting, thought-provoking, disturbing, and honest.

"The Known World" is the author's first novel eleven years after publishing an anthology of short stories, "Lost in the City." The names, locations, and characters are all fictional and created in his mind during eleven years of planning. The depth of detail of the plantation in Manchester County has been compared with Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. The Mirage Book Club members' take on the book was mixed and atypical. One member liked the first chapter but not the rest of the book; the second member was impressed with the images and descriptions of the scenes but not the meandering of the narration; some said the book was well written and explored an unknown view of slavery; a few were very impressed with the book: "Jones did a very good job discussing and disclosing slavery, and the title of the book was very fitting," said one member. "And the non-linear story telling and consistent narration was constructed masterfully." another member said, "There are two major considerations here: 1. the system [slavery] is unchangeable and slaves have no choice but to comply, and 2. unlike Faulkner's South who represents only whites, Jones writes about blacks too, as did Ernest Gray and a few other African-American writers." "The book was tedious to read yet some characters were interesting; Alice was stunning," said a member. "I didn't believe the story." next person read the whole book and found it informative, "A pleasant way to write about slavery." Another member was not convinced, "Winning the Pulitzer Prize could be a political matter." But another person found the book very interesting and enjoyable to read. "I liked Fern Alston, a noble person in a deeply corrupted political society." A member who likes every book she reads said, "I learn something from the book we read, though this one was a very different read, I liked the characters especially Augustus and Alice [she was crazy but she was fun]; but another member found the characters unreal and the descriptions tedious. "The prose was well constructed but the dialogues were excessive and inconsequential." A doctor/member listened to the audio version. "The author is telling a very believable story," said he, "An untold version of slavery." The moderator's husband talked about the voice, the writing style, and the dialogues. "This book compares well to the notable novels about slavery," said he, "The author is African-American and when he was working on his M.F.A. in creative writing in Boston he read an article about a few black citizens of the South who were slave-owners. Then he collected shelves of books about slavery, the stories about the slaves who were ill, pregnant, and crippled or hobbled but still forcefully worked six days a week from sunrise to sunset," said he. "The author also collected stories from the earliest published black writers many of whom were slaves and abolitionists. The voice is constant and the narrator is omniscient, he is everywhere, sees everything, and knows what's going on in every cabin.

This novel was recommended in "The Week" news magazine by a "best books" list contributor. I had not read anything else by the author, Edward Jones, a Pulitzer Prize winner. It is a story of a little-known facet of American history, Southern free black slave owners before the Civil War and emancipation. (According to "Black Slave Owners" by Joseph Holloway on slaverebellion.org, there were 3,000 free black slave owners in New Orleans in 1860 and over 400 in Charleston, SC in 1830.) Americans, thanks to our "education" system, and a media and political class vested in creating a feeling of helpless victimhood in black Americans, tend to believe that slavery was purely a phenomenon of whites owning blacks for a few hundred years in the American south. In fact, as Dr. Thomas Sowell points out in his excellent essay, "The Real History of Slavery," every people were enslaved at some point, most often by folks just like them, and every culture accepted slavery and practiced it, until our much-maligned western culture turned against it. For example, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, which legally abolished slavery way back in 1981, has recently agreed with the UN to actually try to eradicate slavery. Sowell points out that during the same period when 500,000 African slaves were brought to what became the United States, a million white Europeans were kidnapped into slavery in Muslim North Africa. And there are no records of the millions of blacks taken into slavery by Muslims. I have read that white slaves were still being sold in Cairo 20 years after Lee surrendered to Grant. Getting a feel for this different perspective is one reason to read this novel. But the author's ear for dialog, eye for detail and command of the language will be the envy of other writers and a joy to readers. He creates life stories and a sense of place that make it had to accept that this is fiction. You can't help but believe that "this is the way it was." So it works on many levels. The only off-kilter note was his assertion that blacks didn't take surnames until after emancipation, a very small quibble. This is amply refuted, along with much of the demeaning but politically-valuable contemporary myth of blacks as helpless victims of slavery, in "The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom." But, like that well-researched history, this novel presents blacks in slavery as a resilient and adaptable people coping as best they could with a great evil, and struggling to hold family together--doing a better job than a large percentage of Americans today, despite far easier conditions. I highly recommend it. Robert A. Hall Author: The Coming Collapse of the American republic

This book gathered remarkable plaudits... always a caution for me. It is without doubt a remarkable book but the difficulty with following the hoard of characters and shifting time frames, often within the same few paragraphs, detracted from what was a well written book. Quite an achievement despite my reservations.

Anyone about to read this novel should know that there is not an unitary plot that follows a set of characters to a finality. Thus, you feel like it is very disjointed or fragmented, and you may even stop reading it because you can't settle in for a good, fluid read. You should know that it comprises a series of linked short stories or vignettes, and if you are knowledgeable of styles, be warned that it is a post-modernist novel, i.e., a novel in which there is a fragmented narrative, a kind of narration or narrator that isn't reliable, and this is especially true when trying to understand what the "known world" is to the slaves. Yes, it is a novel about slavery, but particularly about black slaveowners. Around 1860 28% of free blacks owned slaves as compared to 4.8% of southern whites so this is a very legitimate subject. However, the novel and its sources are not based on actual history. Only the 1806 Act passed in Virginia that is referenced is historically correct. Everything else is imaginary, made up, and the novel itself becomes a kind of metahistory of slavery. You don't read it to further your knowledge of historical slavery. You read it for its vivid fictional depictions of groups of slaves and the white functionaries they encounter. You read it because the stories are memorable. There is, of course, the brutality of slavery, but most readers know about that so you read to dwell in the humanity of the various groups of slaves, most of them families. The title of the book is "The Known World" so read this novel to learn what that means: what is knowledge, what or who generates it, can it be trusted, how does it impact individual slaves. With a theme to follow like knowledge, you will greatly enjoy the book, far more than if you just read the words on the page as it won't pick up steam for you. If you like the notion of short stories then read the author's two collections. I rate this novel all five stars but with the caveat laid out above. It would not, however, have been my choice for a Pulitzer Prize, but who knows what the competition was. The author himself does not give very enlightening interviews, but it is helpful to know that his beloved mother was completely illiterate. That fact obviously plays a big underlying role in the novel. This is not a novel you buy at the airport before a flight. That's not fair. Give it your full attention with a question,for it to answer such as I have suggested above.

Very good condition and exactly what I needed for a college class

The Known World is a complex morality piece set in the Antebellum South in and around the mid 19th century. The story takes place in Manchester county, Virginia and primarily focuses on the slaves and slave owners lives all centered around the death of a prominent slave owner who is himself an African American. The writing is rich and the content is heavy. As a reader you become immersed in the various points of view that shift through multiple characters and time periods. Jones is exceptional at making the feelings and atmosphere ooze of the page and his characters are complex yet realistic. My favorite aspect of the novel is the complexity involved from a moral standpoint. You have black slave owners to white abolitionists whose welfare is dependent on slavery. Jones doesn't take the easy way out and there are no easy answers. Characters behave admirably in some situations abhorrently in others but always with purpose. This novel is not an easy read and I wouldn't recommend it for light readers. After the first 30 pages, I had to start over, literally writing down notes about characters and lineage because it became too much to remember every time I put the book down. Bottom Line: This book won the Pulitzer a few years back and it is a must read for people interested in the subject and historical fiction.

I have read some wonderful books this year and this is my favorite. Hell, it is one of my five all-time favorites. Why? Jones is an astonishing storyteller; his writing lyrical, smooth, rich. The central story of a free Black man in Virginia in 1855 who owned slaves himself is a brilliant, compelling setting, full of narrative possibilities that are explored in countless threads throughout past, present, and future settings. The cast of characters is large, the characters themselves complex and believable, and the story moves back and forth among them at different times and places.But Jones has a way of keeping easily confused readers like yours truly oriented without undue repetition. His storytelling I would liken to a symphony: the melody of story carries a paragraph along, but then a single sentence shifts the gaze back on a different storyline or character for one beautiful moment, resonating on something from a prior paragraph or chapter, before returning to the current melody. This highlighting of previous instruments creates echoes throughout the tale, achieving the perfect relationship of form and content for a historical novel. This is not a speed read, but that does not mean it’s a slog. A little concentration is required, but your focus is richly rewarded as multiple facets of all the characters and situations are slowly revealed. There are so many books on my bedside table, but I will return to this one very soon.

You have to read this novel! The characters, style of writing, and historical accuracy make it difficult to put this book down.

good

A mind-blowing very moving book, a really complicated story line and writing style that I loved so much that when I finished it, I went back again to the beginning and read it all over again. I'm absolutely sure that I read it again, and again.

I really liked this slow book about the life of a community in Virgina before the Civil War. I didn't know black people could own slaves back then. The story is tragically beautiful;it takes place on a plantation where the black owner dies. From then on, everything starts to go wrong on the plantation, and slaves keep disappearing.. The writing is astonishing : present and past are subtly intertwined to carry the plot until an inevitable conclusion. The characters are truly remarkable, and true to life.

La letra es demasiado pequeña y, aunque tengas buena vista, cansa y no puedes hacer largas tiradas de lectura. No lo recomiendo. La lástima es que es demasiado tarde para devolverlo, si no lo haría seguro. No se puede leer de forma placentera con una letra tan pequena y condensada. El libro es largo para adoptar una letra así. No lo recomiendo en absoluto. Gasta unos euros más y disfruta del libro con una letra más grande y adiente para la lectura de placer.