The Known World by edward p. jones

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

I know there is something bizzare about me because I didn't like this book. I know it has a lot of good reviews on here, so people should still give it a chance. Honestly, it is the first book this year I just couldn't finish. I made it halfway through hoping with each chapter that I would become interested in the story.

I think my major problem was the way the author laid the stories out. Nothing is in chronological order, and it's extremely confusing to being going back and forth in character's lives. Half the time I didn't know if things were happening in the present or past. It was just too much work and I began to feel dread every time I looked at the book. Maybe someday I will give it another chance. I just don't have the patience right now.

0 0 Reply

Valkyros78

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

This was a great book, very well written and an interesting read. Tackling the complex morale issues surrounding slavery from a new perspective, this book delves into the territory of black owners of slaves. Without preaching, the author successfully navigates barbaric treatments and offers a view into the mental justifications and rationalizations. Characters of great strength, courage and resilience are interspersed on both sides of the issue, as are truly terrible individuals.

The author continuously introduces new, inter-related characters which means he constantly has to remind us of who someone is. While a bit extraneous, it didn't detract from the book. This isn't a traditional "story book" where you follow someone's life. The author jumps around from past, present and future glimpses to facilitate quick character development. The downside to this was there weren't "cliff hangers" at the end of chapters that kept me reading non-stop.

I recommend this highly as a quality book. It definitely makes you think about how the human psyche can be manipulated, and how laws of the land and society can be used to justify behaviors.

0 0 Reply

Sesparrow222

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

رواية العالم المعروف تبحر بك في القرن السابع عشر في ولاية فرجينا الإمريكية وما يجاورها من مدن في زمن العبودية والتاريخ الأسود الذي رافق تلك الفترة قبل الحرب الأهلية الإمريكية .
لا الرغم من عدم شهرة الرواية إلا إنها حققت ربحا في المبيعات على الرغم من بعدها عن الإثارة وفوز كاتبها "بوليترز" وكذلك تم تصنيفها على إنها رواية تاريخية حيث أمضى الكاتب 10 سنوات في كتابة مادة الرواية وهي واقعية لدرجة كبيرة وتميل للإنسانية ولا ريب في ذلك إذا علمنا بإن جونز هو الابن الوحيد لعامل مطبخ وخادمة في فندق وعملت أمه في شتى الأعمال من أجل إبنها واختفاء والده في صغره. بالرغم من أن امه لا تعرف القراءة أو الكتابة إلا إنها غرست في ابنها حب العلم. وسلوك إبنها في مجال الأدب بشكل عام وانضم في 2010 إلى الهيئة التدريسية في قسم اللغة الإنكليزية للكتابة الإبداعية في جامعة جورج واشنطون الغنية عن التعريف.
تبدأ الرواية بمقولة أدوارد بي. جزنز " طالما تساءلت روحي كيف تجاوزت كل شيء"
في الصفحات الأولى من الرواية يذكر إحصاءات مانشستر والتي هي أوسع مقاطعة في جينيا لعام 1840
حُر:2191
عبد حُر:142
هندي أحمر: 136
عبد:2191
كثرة العبيد لأنهم كانوا إما خدما أو مزاعين في الحقول . الرواية بشكل عام تتطرق إلى السود الأحرار الذين يملكون عبيدًا وكيف قام أغسطس تاونسند بشراء حريته وبعدها عمل بجد من أجل شراء حرية كل من زوجتة وولده الذي إختطف ليعمل ويكون عبدا وفيما بعد يكون هو العبد الحر ( هنري ) الذي يشتري أرضا من سيده السابق ويصلحها وتكون هي الأرض التي نشاهد فيها أغلب المشاهد والأحداث. الشخصيات التي حاول الكاتب وصفها وطريقة معيشتها وطرق التعذيب والعقوبة التي مروا بها والتي تكون أقرب للوحشية والحراسة الليلية التي إستحدثت في عهد المأمور الجديد (جون سكفينغتن) مع مجموعة من الرجال، الذي يلاقي مصرعه على يد ابن عمه في مشهد دموي. والدين الذي يدينون به الذي يتعمد فيه الكهنة على البساطة بعيدا عن العمق. وهذه أحد المشاهد الفضيعة حيث هرب ( إلياس) وعندما وجدوه قطعت أذنه من قبل أحد رجال الدورية الليلية (الهندي الأحمر- أودن) الذي سيصبح فيما بعد مراقب العمال بعد أن يهرب (موسى) الذي كان مراقبا للعمال وساعد عائلته وأليس التي إدعت الجنون على الهرب.
يذكر جونز الكندي ( اندرسن فريزر) الذي أجرى حوار بـ(فيرن) المعلمة التي درست السود الأحرار وكانت المادة التب كتب عنها عن "عجائب وغرائب الجنوبيين ، اقتصاد القطن، وحققت نجحا فيما بعد والتي كانت أقرب للسلسلة.
تتسارع الأحداث فيما بعد إلى أن نصل الفصل الأخير رسالة الأخ (كالفن) إلى أخته (كالدونيا) والتي يذكر فيها ما الذي حدث له شخصيا في 12 أبريل 1861 وهو نفس اليوم الذي حدثت فيه الحرب الأهلية الإمريكية ولا يذكر فيها أحداث الحرب إنما أمور شخصية وحياته.

فيلم وثائقي عن تاريخ العبودية في أمريكا
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDukq...

0 0 Reply

Mizu_chi

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

Bravo, Edward P. Jones - Bravo! Finished this masterpiece with about 20 minutes left to go in the year 2013. Looking forward to quite a few more great reads in 2014 but they'll need to be magnificent to share a bookshelf with this one. Reading The Known World put me one step closer to my goal of reading all of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction award winners - http://lineaday.blogspot.com/2009/03/...

Is the question "how (morally) could there have been black slave owners who were formerly slaves themselves?" a predecessor to "why is black on black crime so prevalent?" or "why do some black people (Michael Jackson being an especially well known example) seem to be trying to escape their blackness by cloaking it in what is commonly accepted as whiteness?" or "is the survival Darwin spoke of primarily achieved by looking out for yourself, even if the most effective method of ascension is using your own people to reach and remain at the top?"

0 0 Reply

hkc_kizzy

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

So I just re-read this book because I wanted to think about it again and I have to say, I did not change my mind much. First off, I hadn't remembered any of the characters and just a bit of the plot. The book just felt shallow again on the second read.

This book approaches a morally unambiguous topic, like slavery, from a slightly morally convoluted perspective: black slave-owners. I doubt that there were many black slave-owners around, but the approach really sheds more light on slavery and its effects. The book is well-written and subtle, but not quite poetic. It reads more like a historical account that is enlivened with some great stories.

I read this book because it was on a list of 10 best books of the decade and I am not sure I would rate it that highly, but I did enjoy reading an account about slavery that was not so predictable or cliche. Not all the slaves are pure and masters bad. People just got stuck in situations and were not strong enough to step out of them and it seems more realistic and terrifying to view such a tragic part of US history in that light. You want to paint slave-owners in a terrible light and not at all be able to relate with them, but unfortunately, it was not that simple.

0 0 Reply

Ginger_Nut07

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

Gorgeously woven and incredibly interesting historical fiction about black slave owners, slaves, and the people who surround them in antebellum Virginia. At first I thought the shifting timeline might annoy me as being too postmodern, but the storytelling is epic and the characters are richly textured and sympathetic.

Jones doesn't let anyone get away without blame in this book, but he manages to infuse even the most vile characters with enough motivation and rationalization for their actions. He understands that mostly good people do terrible things - it forces the reader to get out of the paradigm of evil that they've been comfortable falling in to. We are all capable of evil, and its best to know it so you can recognize the signs. Seriously, this book is marvelous. My favorite book I've read this year and I can't recommend it enough.

0 0 Reply

youssef41541545

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

Virgina in pre-Civil War, a story of white slaveholders, black slaves, black freemen, and black slaveholders. Fascinating novel, several characters introduced early in the book, who were sometimes hard to keep straight, who were never all good or all evil. I wanted to know more about some of the characters, but more of their natures was revealed slowly. I liked the way Jones sometimes gave snippets of the characters' future lives even while telling the stories of their current lives, as well as not always telling the story in chronological order. A great read.

0 0 Reply

DrCulture

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 17,2025

I think I can go for several years now without reading another novel about slavery.

0 0 Reply

Leave a Review

You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.

The Known World

edward p. jones

This edition

More editions

About the author

edward p. jones

Readers also enjoyed

Community Reviews