The Known World | Edward P. Jones

The Known World | Edward P. Jones | marvelous journey into lives of blacks in antebellum South

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The Known World

	The Known World Edward P. Jones Amistad, 2006 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 285 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, The Known World is a daring and ambitious work by Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones.

The Known World tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order, and chaos ensues. Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities.

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Incredible

This is one of my all time favorite books. Nonetheless, the content is very serious and very real. It is a page turner, well written, and full of character development. It explains a lot about the institution of slavery. The in depth explanation makes it easier to understand why it was so hard to stop slavery.

marvelous journey into lives of blacks in antebellum South

This beautifully crafted novel transports the reader to an antebellum South populated with free blacks, free black slave owners, slaves, former slaves, white slave owners, and interacial relationships (sexual and social) between those of various social status. Jones creates a world that blurs the simplistic picture of slavery often painted of this era. Highly recommended for anyone who likes historical fiction, but don't expect a romanticized version of this period of history. Also recommended, Jones's Aunt Hagars Children.

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Simply Wonderful

That there is an author out there who can take on such a sensitive subject and look past the indignity, heartbreak and ignominy of slavery to present the depth and complexity of his characters, to really bring them to life, is a truly wonderful prospect for us, those who derive pleasure from indulging in an unknown world, an unknown reality and a completely foreign way of life via literature. Jones is an amazing intermediary employing seemingly effortless transitions across time, race, class, and gender to allow us a window into a past that oddly enough seems not only posisble but under the circumstances he describes uncomfortably plausible. Personally, I hope that he has more similarly great works in his future. But, even if he does not, this book would be the masterpiece of the collected works of anyone but the greatest authors plying the trade today.

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Difficult to read but well worth it

I, too, found this book difficult to read, but not because of the prose; it was difficult to read because the subject matter was so viscerally presented and articulately explored. To confront the idea of people being worth money and nothing more was almost too much to bear. I applaud Mr. Jones for his ability to dig into this subject and to display it in a way that forces us to face such a legacy.

I was afraid that there would not be any redemptive value in the book but found that redemption was offered in the smallest, most subtle ways. Stop reading now if you don't want a spoiler. The knowledge after the fact that Moses had not killed his wife and child, that the man who would lead to his maiming knew it, saw it on him was powerfully felt because of its subtlety. The way Jones presents the final assault on Moses, the cutting of his Achilles tendon was remarkable. Knowing that the man who casually enacted such violence would never do so again after being forced to bear the suffering he had created, almost through the barrel of his body, for miles and while literally being hugged by that suffering was simply sublime. Clearly, this book is well worth the pain it may cause and the sadness in may imprint.

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