Washington Black

Author: Esi Edughan
Genre: Historical Fiction
Type: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Source: Local Public Library
Publisher: Patrick Crean Editions
First Published: August 28, 2018
Opening Lines: "I might have been ten, eleven years old -- I cannot say for certain -- when my first master died."

Book Description from GoodReads: Washington Black is an eleven-year-old field slave who knows no other life than the Barbados sugar plantation where he was born. When his master's eccentric brother chooses him to be his manservant, Wash is terrified of the cruelties he is certain await him. But Christopher Wilde, or "Titch," is a naturalist, explorer, scientist, inventor, and abolitionist. He initiates Wash into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky; where two people, separated by an impossible divide, might begin to see each other as human; and where a boy born in chains can embrace a life of dignity and meaning. But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash's head, Titch abandons everything to save him. What follows is their flight along the eastern coast of America, and, finally, to a remote outpost in the Arctic, where Wash, left on his own, must invent another new life, one which will propel him further across the globe. From the sultry cane fields of the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, Washington Black tells a story of friendship and betrayal, love and redemption, of a world destroyed and made whole again--and asks the question, what is true freedom?

My Rating: 3 stars

My Review: Washington Black, with its Giller Prize, Booker Prize and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize nominations, is the talk of the literary town. It focuses on the life of eleven-year-old Washington Black and his beginnings as a young slave at a plantation in the Caribbean and continues as he goes on an adventure across the globe with his master's brother, Titch.

Several topics and themes are introduced throughout the book but overall this is more of a lighthearted adventure that is told in a linear timeline using the first-person narration of Wash himself. The story is broken down into four distinct parts, but I found the first section the most riveting by far. This is where we first meet Wash and Edugyan doesn't hold back about the brutalities that slaves on Caribbean plantations were forced to endure. The story then progresses into more of an adventure (a la Jules Verne) with its slightly steampunk vibe and scientific aspects. The third part focuses on Washington learning to stand on his own two feet and the fourth is about Wash facing his past and figuring out his future.

Unfortunately, the disjointed connections between the different sections of the book took away from the flow of the storytelling. As serendipitous connections between plot and characters emerged and my ability to suspend disbelief was challenged too far, my interest waned as the book progressed until I was presented with an ending that felt inadequate and too abrupt.

While this is an imaginative novel with sometimes powerful and descriptive prose, the focus, energy and even the writing style seemed to wander too much for my liking leaving me with a book that was just okay and a lot of unanswered questions.