Profoundly moving

An epic story beautifully performed, deeply moving and constantly interesting . I’m off to buy her other books

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2 people found this helpful

Elegant, sad, important

It’s always a pleasure to immerse yourself in a beautifully written story. I suspect it will stay with me for a few days

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Absolutely superb

A fairly intense start, so be warned.
Beautifully written, wonderful characterisation, riveting storyline. Science and fantasy in a fascinating mix.

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What a fascinating book and fantastic journey

This was an impulse purchase bought as part of an Audible 2 for 1 deal alongside Ducks, Newburyport. The contrast between the two could not be more stark, Washington Black leaves you with nothing but empathy for it's characters, no matter how flawed, while Ducks, Newburyport leaves you with nothing but loathing for it's characters.

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Wonderful wonderful listen

This book is so beautiful and awful and completely absorbing I finished it awhile back and it……they have stayed with me

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Good story

Good story, disappointing ending, but most irritating narration - spoke really fast had trouble understanding it!

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thought provoking

black/white, parent/child, master/slave relationships of the Island of my birth. now need to find truth

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A story of mental emancipation.

Having read Half Blood Blues, I was prepared for another extraordinary novel from a writer whose power to evoke the past seems effortless. I was drawn to this new book especially because I live in Barbados and the first part is set on a plantation there. But I also wanted to see what she would do with the theme of slavery, one which is so hard to do justice to without invoking stereotypes and easy guilt. In fact, the first section of the novel doesn't stint on horror, but the narrative doesn't lean on this. It quickly becomes a personal story, told entirely from the point of view of the protagonist, Washington, an enchanting child when we first meet him, disoriented by the inexplicable kindness of Titch, his master's brother, visiting from England, who takes him on as an assistant in his scientific experiments. It is, therefore, the story of an anomaly - a slave who is singled out and given the chance to develop his innate intelligence and talent, and ultimately to become a visionary scientist himself. This sounds romantic but it isn't: the role of science in the nineteenth century is shown to be one of liberation for many different kinds of people - from a disaffected younger brother, to an unconventional young woman, to Washington himself. innovations that we take for granted - like flight, or photography - were farfetched dreams in the 1830s, and the people who dreamed them viewed as eccentric or mad. Washington's relationship with Titch, the spine of the novel, goes through stages from hero-worship to betrayal to loss and anger, reaching, eventually, a plane of understanding and acceptance. It's the great achievement of this novel that ultimately it's about an individual's journey to self-knowledge and the understanding that he is not, as he thought, the centre of the universe, however urgent his own concerns might be. The relationship of Titch and Washington, strange and unconventional though it is, is thus revealed to be at heart a father-son relationship, one that all sons, and all fathers, must negotiate in their own way. The writing is always wonderful, and at times transcendent. A thrilling read.

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4 people found this helpful

Fantastic

I loved this story - the characters, the writing, the narrator - everything about it was just perfect. And what an incredible narrator, I'll be looking out for more of his work.

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Excellent

Great story, very well narrated. Captivating from the very start.

It would be helpful to have a text copy alongside to understand some of the speech from the characters in the plantation. Also the Scottish accent isn’t the best!

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1 person found this helpful