Looking for a mid-spring read? "The Book of Night Women" by Marlon James is the book to pick up that will have to be pried from your hands, as you will not want to put it down. Set on a Jamaican sugar plantation, Montpelier Estate, in 1785, "The Book of Night Women" chronicles the story of Lilith- a green eyed slave born with a dark power. A blessing or curse is for you to decide. But don't expect a typical tale of slavery here.
Beautifully written and seamlessly incorporating Patois, the English dialect of the slaves, Marlon James takes you to the plantation and plants you in the midst of the horrid lives of the forced laborers. With detailed summaries of the African bloodlines, James links the relationship between the Night Women with ease. "White man is white man is white man, but not every nigger be the same nigger. And if she just come from the ship, more so be the difference." Read on and the bloodline becomes clearer and so do the effects of mental enslavement. "Every negro walk in a circle. Take that and make of it what you will. But sometime the circle not be the negro's but the white man own, and white man circle full of hill and valley and things they say that mean something else. Black man wake up to find circle make for him, beginning with shackle that lock round him neck. White man circle come by him own choosing. Plenty have choice to walk straight away, yet plenty come back to where them start. Others never leave. And if you negro get take up in the white man life, you travel that circle too." To go or stay? Questions presented to all in the story and the draw is that you never truly see what's to come until the end.
A real page turner, with the sordid "romance" to make you grip the pages and read on in anxious sorrowful anticipation, the author Marlon James tests the limits of vernacular in literature and impossible love. Fair warning, this book is NOT for the light at heart or mind. With graphic accounts of murder, physical punishment and sexual exploitation, this book takes you where "Beloved", "Queen" and "Walk Through Darkness" would never dream to go. While human degradation is inextricably linked to the backdrop you can't help but hope for some inkling of a happy ending. And let's be clear, as the book drops you in the middle of the most undesirable and heart wrenching accounts of the lives of slave women, the author does a wonderful job at bringing you to the end with enough closure to feel satisfied and leaves you to linger on what comes of the final revelation.
Be prepared, I am not a very emotional person but I will admit that my emotions ran the gamut: with outbursts of laughter to having to take breaks to compose my anger, to feeling the excitement of reading about a woman "loving her man", to wiping away tears that have stained the pages of my book; you will lay this book to rest for only a short while before going back to remind yourself of why you love to hate that you enjoyed such a tumultuous tale. I have talked about this book to all that will listen and now I offer it to you.
The list price for "The Book of Night Women" is $26.95. If you are a library builder like me, and believe in supporting the literary arts, then a brand new uncreased copy may be of your choosing. However, recessionary consciousness warrants wise spending. That said, there are plenty of options for like-new and used books. If you want to borrow mine, let me know.
As always, be REBELLIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL.
1 comments:
This is a literary work. While some words in the English language hold negative denotative and connotative meanings, this review does not support the use of the "N" word but uses it to give prospective readers an idea of what this book is about.
The passage highlighted in the content of the review is only one of many uses of the word in the book. We offer a fair warning, this book uses language and descriptions reflective of the story's time.
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