|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
title = "12 Years a Slave - Solomon Northup"
|
|
|
|
|
date = 2015-04-09
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[taxonomies]
|
|
|
|
|
tags = ["books", "solomon northup", "reviews", "biography"]
|
|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18478222-twelve-years-a-slave):
|
|
|
|
|
Twelve Years a Slave, sub-title: Narrative of Solomon Northup, citizen of
|
|
|
|
|
New-York, kidnapped in Washington city in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a
|
|
|
|
|
cotton plantation near the Red River in Louisiana, is a memoir by Solomon
|
|
|
|
|
Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. It is a slave narrative of a
|
|
|
|
|
black man who was born free in New York state but kidnapped in Washington,
|
|
|
|
|
D.C., sold into slavery, and kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana. He
|
|
|
|
|
provided details of slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, as well
|
|
|
|
|
as describing at length cotton and sugar cultivation on major plantations in
|
|
|
|
|
Louisiana.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- more -->
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
{{ stars(stars=4) }}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'll admit that I only bought this book for the morbid curiosity of how much
|
|
|
|
|
flair the movie added.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In my view, not so much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sure, there are a few differences: Ford didn't sell Northup just because one
|
|
|
|
|
fight with Tibeats, but because Ford had bills to pay; it wasn't a single
|
|
|
|
|
fight with Tibeats, but three; the movie doesn't mention the Christmas days;
|
|
|
|
|
the movie doesn't show Northup genius fish catcher; the movie doesn't show
|
|
|
|
|
that, in the end, the guys who captured Northup actually tried to sue him
|
|
|
|
|
back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But I believe the core of it was there. Which is impressive.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The book doesn't only dwell in the his enslavement years, but also paint a bit
|
|
|
|
|
of the historical production and live style of the US in the 1850s. The
|
|
|
|
|
problem at those points is that it gives the false impression that everything
|
|
|
|
|
is going alright with him at the time -- but after reading "Ghost Rider", I
|
|
|
|
|
know people in distress tend to write books like everything is alright at some
|
|
|
|
|
point. Still, it's weird to read such passages, like it was a matter-of-fact
|
|
|
|
|
and now part of the life of someone who is not the owner of his own life
|
|
|
|
|
anymore.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Also, so parts are so incredible distressing, I had to stop and remind myself
|
|
|
|
|
that this was *not* a fiction book, but actually the story of a man.
|
