If you read or watched and enjoyed Alex Hailey's epic "Roots," you won't want to miss Lawrence Hill's equally ambitious book, The book of negroes. While "Roots" tracked an enslaved family through generations, The book of negroes is the story of just one woman, Aminata Diallo, from her earlier years in Africa, through her capture, enslavement, and the many journeys and experiences that follow from there.
Aminata is a very strong woman who refused to be cowed by slavery. Extreme losses put her in despair at times, but she always came back to fight against injustice, cruelty, and bondage. She fought for literacy and woman's rights, long before those were popular public discussions. Her fighting spirit made her a target, but she also earned the respect of many around her. It's too bad she's entirely fictional.
Author Lawrence Hill has poured huge amounts of research into this book. As well as reading and travelling widely to gain background information, Hill grew up with parents who helped pioneer Canada's human rights movement and who were themselves descended from Africans enslaved in the United States. I suspect Hill ate, breathed, and lived this story long before he even had ambitions to become a writer. The book certainly reads that way. It's over 400 pages long but still feels like it barely contains the story - it's bursting at the seams with more untold details - all those many events that you know make up a person's life but can't be told in a mere 400 pages. That's not to say this story is lacking. It's just that its main character is so real and interesting that you know there's got to be more to learn about her, if only you could sit down and talk to her.
The slave trade was (and in places still is) a harsh and cruel way of treating people and doing business. In looking back, we often focus on the horrible things that happened - the brutality, the deprivation, the family and community destruction - and temper that with reassurances that not everyone was that cruel to their "workers." We perpetuate the myth of "good" slave owners. One of the things that is made clear in this book is that there is no such thing. Literacy, education, health care, commerce, and travel were all touted as benefits to those who were forcibly removed from "the dark and savage continent," but none of them count for anything without freedom and the people you love. Just ask Aminata.
"The book of negroes" by Lawrence Hill. Published in 2007 by HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0-00-22507-3.
Showing posts with label autobiography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autobiography. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Same kind of different as me
Big black homeless man meets major league art dealer and helps him change for the better.
Sounds like a feel-good Hollywood production, doesn't it? This is actually a combined biography of two men and the woman who brought them together. Denver Moore, formerly homeless and illiterate co-author, tells a story we don't want to believe could be true - especially not in our "enlightened" times. Ron Hall, the other major player in this book, makes it clear that if Moore is guilty of anything, it is understatement.
We're not talking about the down and out scruffy guy with a heart of gold or a high flyer who just needed a little nudge to fine-tune his focus. We're talking about an ex-con (armed robbery) who hated everyone around him, and an ambitious social-climbing money-hound who sold out or betrayed everyone who mattered to him. Add Hall's wife, Deborah, to the mix and you have a fabulous story of change, love, redemption, forgiveness, caring, growth, healing, trust, and interconnectedness.
The story alternates between Denver's and Ron's viewpoints. I particularly liked that format because it made it easy to compare their early years, and later in the narrative, it was interesting to get the two descriptions of one situation. At times it was hard to believe I was reading about the same event.
Lynn Vincent has done a wonderful job of pulling two vastly different narrative styles together into one cohesive story. Instead of smoothing out the differences, she plays on them and uses them to distinguish between narrators. These men don't have easy stories to tell. It took a whole lot of fortitude to go back through their pasts and lay everything bare for others to gape at, but these men are survivors and their story is inspiring and gut-wrenching all at the same time. Same kind of different as me should definitely be on your reading list for 2009.
Same kind of different as me : a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together by Ron Hall & Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent. Published in 2006 by Thomas Nelson. ISBN: 978-0-8499-1910-7.
Sounds like a feel-good Hollywood production, doesn't it? This is actually a combined biography of two men and the woman who brought them together. Denver Moore, formerly homeless and illiterate co-author, tells a story we don't want to believe could be true - especially not in our "enlightened" times. Ron Hall, the other major player in this book, makes it clear that if Moore is guilty of anything, it is understatement.
We're not talking about the down and out scruffy guy with a heart of gold or a high flyer who just needed a little nudge to fine-tune his focus. We're talking about an ex-con (armed robbery) who hated everyone around him, and an ambitious social-climbing money-hound who sold out or betrayed everyone who mattered to him. Add Hall's wife, Deborah, to the mix and you have a fabulous story of change, love, redemption, forgiveness, caring, growth, healing, trust, and interconnectedness.
The story alternates between Denver's and Ron's viewpoints. I particularly liked that format because it made it easy to compare their early years, and later in the narrative, it was interesting to get the two descriptions of one situation. At times it was hard to believe I was reading about the same event.
Lynn Vincent has done a wonderful job of pulling two vastly different narrative styles together into one cohesive story. Instead of smoothing out the differences, she plays on them and uses them to distinguish between narrators. These men don't have easy stories to tell. It took a whole lot of fortitude to go back through their pasts and lay everything bare for others to gape at, but these men are survivors and their story is inspiring and gut-wrenching all at the same time. Same kind of different as me should definitely be on your reading list for 2009.
Same kind of different as me : a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together by Ron Hall & Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent. Published in 2006 by Thomas Nelson. ISBN: 978-0-8499-1910-7.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Looking for God
I was at a bookstore sale and had accumulated an armload when one of the clerks pointed at Looking for God and said, "If you buy anything, you need to get that book. It's the best book I've read in a long time." I had glanced at it in passing already but I decided to buy it based on the clerk's recommendation. I'm glad I did.
Do you ever read those books where the author tells you how wonderful his/her life is and how yours can be just as great if you only follow these __ easy steps? Those are annoying books. You know that real people who are fully aware of their surroundings don't have lives like the ones in those books. Only plastic people have all of their problems solved by the end of the last chapter and I, for one, am not plastic so their solutions don't apply to me.
Nancy Ortberg isn't plastic either. She hasn't solved her problems and she's not about to tell you how to fix your life. She is, however, willing to tell stories about how she jumped over, plowed through, or crawled under some personal hurdles, with the hope that her readers might be encouraged, and maybe even possibly learn from her successes and failures. We don't have a perfect-on-the-outside-but-completely-hollow figurehead pointing at herself here. Instead we have a disarmingly open, honest, wise, and passionate woman eagerly pointing her life towards God.
Each chapter in this book is its own freestanding essay. Although they work well together, they don't necessarily have to be read in order. It's a bit like scrolling through a blog - more formal than a journal, but still very personal. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to re-read it in a few months' time. If you're looking for discussion group starters, you might find this material useful.
Looking for God : an unexpected journey through tattoos, tofu & pronouns by Nancy Ortberg. Published in 2008 by Tyndale. ISBN: 978-141431332-0.
Do you ever read those books where the author tells you how wonderful his/her life is and how yours can be just as great if you only follow these __ easy steps? Those are annoying books. You know that real people who are fully aware of their surroundings don't have lives like the ones in those books. Only plastic people have all of their problems solved by the end of the last chapter and I, for one, am not plastic so their solutions don't apply to me.
Nancy Ortberg isn't plastic either. She hasn't solved her problems and she's not about to tell you how to fix your life. She is, however, willing to tell stories about how she jumped over, plowed through, or crawled under some personal hurdles, with the hope that her readers might be encouraged, and maybe even possibly learn from her successes and failures. We don't have a perfect-on-the-outside-but-completely-hollow figurehead pointing at herself here. Instead we have a disarmingly open, honest, wise, and passionate woman eagerly pointing her life towards God.
Each chapter in this book is its own freestanding essay. Although they work well together, they don't necessarily have to be read in order. It's a bit like scrolling through a blog - more formal than a journal, but still very personal. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to re-read it in a few months' time. If you're looking for discussion group starters, you might find this material useful.
Looking for God : an unexpected journey through tattoos, tofu & pronouns by Nancy Ortberg. Published in 2008 by Tyndale. ISBN: 978-141431332-0.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Home : a memoir of my early years
I don't read a lot of show business biographies but when Julie Andrews' memoirs showed up at the library, I had to take it home. Julie Andrews never struck me as typical Hollywood or typical Broadway. As a child, I was sure she was somehow related to royalty. She had that air about her. As an adult, I could take the book home and find out. What a revelation!
If pressed for an answer, I would now have to say that Julie Andrews most reminds me of my grandmother - not in a warm grandmotherly way, or even because they were of the same generation, because they weren't - but because both of them were survivors of very difficult home situations, and both tell their stories with virtually no self-pity or blame.
Julie Andrews' memoir does not come across as a cold re-telling of the past, but it is very matter-of-fact. She writes about her growing up years and early stage career with clarity and detail, but without destroying other people's reputations. The classy persona that you see in public and on stage must be an integral part of her character because it comes through in her writing.
A quick overview might classify this as a typical rags-to-riches story but it doesn't read that way because you get the impression that Julie Andrews doesn't see herself as a star. She certainly recognizes that she has worked with stellar people and performed for big names but she portrays herself as a struggling girl/young woman with an oddly talented voice. It's as if the voice is its own entity and the rest of her life is just there to support it.
The early parts of the book are a little disjointed as we jump from one memory to another. We all know that our earliest memories are flashes and brief episodes, usually unconnected to an over-riding storyline. That's how these come across, but the story becomes more fluid as we move into later years.
I wouldn't put this in my current top 10 list, but I did enjoy reading it and I'll probably read its sequel when it comes out.
Home : a memoir of my early years by Julie Andrews. Published in 2008 by Hyperion. ISBN: 978-0-7868-6565-9.
If pressed for an answer, I would now have to say that Julie Andrews most reminds me of my grandmother - not in a warm grandmotherly way, or even because they were of the same generation, because they weren't - but because both of them were survivors of very difficult home situations, and both tell their stories with virtually no self-pity or blame.
Julie Andrews' memoir does not come across as a cold re-telling of the past, but it is very matter-of-fact. She writes about her growing up years and early stage career with clarity and detail, but without destroying other people's reputations. The classy persona that you see in public and on stage must be an integral part of her character because it comes through in her writing.
A quick overview might classify this as a typical rags-to-riches story but it doesn't read that way because you get the impression that Julie Andrews doesn't see herself as a star. She certainly recognizes that she has worked with stellar people and performed for big names but she portrays herself as a struggling girl/young woman with an oddly talented voice. It's as if the voice is its own entity and the rest of her life is just there to support it.
The early parts of the book are a little disjointed as we jump from one memory to another. We all know that our earliest memories are flashes and brief episodes, usually unconnected to an over-riding storyline. That's how these come across, but the story becomes more fluid as we move into later years.
I wouldn't put this in my current top 10 list, but I did enjoy reading it and I'll probably read its sequel when it comes out.
Home : a memoir of my early years by Julie Andrews. Published in 2008 by Hyperion. ISBN: 978-0-7868-6565-9.
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