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The Known World
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
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Summary
Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2004
National Book Critics Circle Award, Fiction, 2004
Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief; and things begin to fall apart: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love beneath the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend estate, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave "speculators" sell free black people into slavery; and rumor of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.
An ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, The Known World weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians, and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery.
Critic reviews
"Flawless rendition....He gives each character color, personality, and heft, without ever vamping or straining for effect." ( AudioFile)
"A complex, often startling picture of life in the region....[Jones'] narrative achieves crushing momentum through sheer accumulation of detail, unusual historical insight, and generous character writing." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy." ( The New Yorker)
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- Amazon Customer
- 17-03-16
Gripping
Fantastic, really interesting story construction, ends before beginnings, shouldn't work but really did. Loved it.
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Overall
- John
- 22-09-06
the known world
boring as hell . the worst audiobook i have bought by far .
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Nelly_dog
- 09-11-05
Too complicated to work well as an audio book
I downloaded this novel based on the great reviews for the paperback. Unfortunately I found that the style of novel did not work well as an audio book. I struggled to keep track of the different characters and the story was not sufficiently gripping for me to persevere.
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9 people found this helpful