Customer Reviews

The Book of Night Women

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Marlon James's latest novel, The Book of Night Women, opens with an immediate ominous vibe as a much-too-young 13 year-old child dies giving birth to a green-eyed daughter (Lilith) in a dirty, old shack. Merge this unfortunate beginning with the hard living and harder dying on a late 18th century Jamaican sugar cane plantation populated with slaves named after characters portrayed in Greek tragedies and James delivers an intense novel steeped in history, mystery, with a touch of mysticism.

At its core, this is a historical novel narrated by the slave, Lilith, and an unknown voice (which is revealed at the end) in heavy Jamaican patois and broken English. Orphaned at birth, she is raised by the barren and cruel concubine-of-sorts, Circe, and the insane, but caring, Tantalus. Puberty brings unwanted attention and in a brutal act of self-defense, the pretty Lilith is ostracized and placed in Homer's care at the "big house." Drama and more trouble ensue as Lilith vies for the master's attention and affection foregoing Homer's warnings and advice. Homer and Lilith's dialogue and experiences reveal the inter-/intra-relationships and the complex hierarchical strata and blended culture among slaves (house, field, Johnny-jumper), whites (British, French, Irish, Creole, owners, and overseers), Maroons, and Africans (Ashanti, Igbo, etc.). Homer, understanding the power of superstition, practices myal and inflicts an obeah-inspired method of control and revenge across the plantation.

The Night Women are a group led by Homer, a natural leader and planner, who has been plotting revenge and a multi-plantation rebellion with other like-minded women on neighboring estates. Befriending and adding Lilith to the group causes consternation amongst the other women, including two who share her haunting green-eyes indicating a sisterly bond spawned by the same paternity. The plot thickens and twists as Lilith makes difficult choices (and have some made for her) as she grows into womanhood, negotiates the plantation politics, and evaluates her allegiance to friends, her heart, and her master.

Be warned, the novel is written in native patois which might be a bit hard to follow initially until the reader finds cadence in the pages. The language and imagery at times are a bit vulgar and are painfully and tearfully graphic. Nonetheless, James has penned a novel that is sure to place on my "favorites" list for 2009 releases. This novel offers page-turning intrigue, unpredictable plot turns, and colorful characters with authentic voices to produce an award-worthy novel.

Reviewed by Phyllis
February 23, 2009
APOOO BookClub
Nubian Circle Book Club

I've waited two weeks after reading this book before I decided to write a review. I waited so long partly because I needed time to process what I had read and partly because the characters kept haunting me. The imagery of this book is so expertly written that at times I found myself mentally gasping for air. I could literally smell the "mint and lemongrass" of Homer and I could feel the physical and mental pain associated with purposely stifling rage and fury as a means of survival. I felt anger and symphathy for lilith simultaneously and I winced in empathethic pain as the characters were beaten, whipped, tortured and brutalized. The chapter describing the construction of the gibbet, the housing and subsequent hoisting of the men and women into the trees is what prompted the title of this review (I hope this sentence piques your interest into purchasing the book to find out what a gibbet is and why it was pivotal to my description).

Despite the soul and gut wrenching imagery, this book is rhythmic in narration. The wording and melodic patois of the characters as well as the narrator provide a needed balance between the descriptive brutality. Additionally, the juxtaposition of a "love story', or what feels like 'love' to one of the central characters is sure to incite an internal debate among the reader. After completing this book, I found myself studying the face of the author on the back flap. For a minute I taught he might be an extra terrestrial or wrote this book supernaturally because the writing was otherwordly beautiful, perfectly beautiful.

If you are looking for a book that will satisfy every literary emotion you can conjure then this book is definitely for you. I may be going out on a limb when I declare that novice writers should use this book as a handguide to great literature, but in my not so humble opinion this is true. Once you read this book your opinion of great literature will never be the same.

I had a hard time putting this book down. Mr. James has written a heartbreakingly realistic portrait of slave life and the degredation and sexual abuse that was so much part of it. I haven't read something so intense and disturbing in a long time. I am almost embarassed to be part of a human race that could treat other humans this way.

Lilith doesn't remember her mother or father. She has been raised by a slave, Circe, who pretty much does as she likes on a Jamaican sugar plantation as the century turns from 18th to 19th. The closest thing she has to a father, she thinks, is a slave who has lost his mind, and a few body parts, and who is reduced to living on a chain outside like a pitbull.

Lilith survives under the protection of head house slave Homer, a woman who runs the household with rigor and holds her back straight. She also often speaks in riddles to Lilith, leaving the girl to figure out for herself what evil lurks in every heart. Including, in harrowing episodes, Lilith's own.

That such a child not only survives, but works toward living life on her own terms as best she can, may not seem plausible. But Marlon James, a literature and creative writing professor, makes it believable in his second novel, The Book of Night Women. As her circumstances change, usually drastically and often for the worse, Lilith has little support working her way through the labryinth of feelings that confront a girl who becomes a woman, all the while never knowing true freedom to feel as she would like. Whether it's coming to terms for her feelings toward three important white men in her life or her sisters who seek revenge, Lilith has a lot to consider.

James has written a brutal, earthy and compelling narrative written in a dialect that forces a reader to either let the story flow over or to slow down and ponder what every nuance means not only to his heroine, but also to the reader. There is language certain to offend people, especially those who can't even handle Mark Twain. There is never getting away from the harsh brutality of what slavery means, of the cruel physical and psychological misery that one group of people can do to another group, or one individual to another. The inability of the white people in the story to not understand that they haven't earned loyalty and affection after the whippings and rapings, and worse, is but one part of this massive story that has repercussions to this day.

The beauty of this novel is that the author does not have to stand on a soapbox. The reality of the way people were treated speaks for itself. What James has done is to bring to vivid life the emotions and feelings of characters who are part of it without having a say in their place. And this includes some white characters as well as the slaves. That not many of the characters can handle their fate well does not mean their stories are not worth telling.

I haven't actually "read," Book of Night Women yet, but I have been listening to it for the past several weeks on my XM book radio, where they read a few chapters every morning on my drive to work. I was so intrigued that I ordered the book for my kindle.

I highly recommend listening to this book, if you can. The patois is so much more understandable, read by a person who does all of the accents amazingly well. (I'm sorry I can't remember her name) The story is devestating..I actually switched the channel at one point, though I think I'll be able to handle it better when I see it in print. I also can't wait to fill in all of the bits I missed while driving, getting to work before the chapter was over, etc.
I know that I will hear this unique voice in my head for a long time.

Warning: be prepared for some of the most horrific scenes you may ever experience in a novel.
Second warning: Don't give up if you find the language difficult because I suspect within ten or twenty pages you will be pulled into the rhythms of the narrator who, by the way, does not reveal her identity until the very last sentence of the novel.
This is the story of slavery in Jamaica although it could just as easily be the story of slavery anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. But unlike a Toni Morrison view of slavery, this is far more expansive and far more graphic. The narrator's voice is one of outrage. And she is unrelentless in depicting the horrors of what happened to black slaves.
The other reviews provide much guidance. I simply want to express my appreciation for this novel although I am definitely going to read something very light next! So on to Carl Hiaasen's "Star Island" which is only four miles from where in live in Miami Beach!

Imagine yourself on a sugar plantation in Jamaica during the late 18th century. You are forced to endure the strongholds of slavery. But this is not where you belong. You feel out of place, peculiar and different.

There's nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. All you have is a dream. A dream that someone will see past your black skin into your eyes...your green eyes and rescue you.

This is life for Lillith as the main character in The Book of Night Women by Marlon James.

Lillith, the daughter of a teenage slave girl and the plantation overseer, is raised in a home with a man and woman that she calls mother and father but she shares no resemblance. Deep in her heart she knows that she is different. Not only does Lillith know that she is different but the Night Women also know as they secretly keep an eye on her. As Lillith matures and comes face-to-face with her "darkness," she is rescued by Homer, the leader of the Night Women. Homer is sure that Lillith just may be the one that will make their plot of a slave revolt successful.

I don't recall having ever read a book written with the eloquence, detail and imagery used by Marlon James to bring the Night Women to life. James not only created characters that I could relate to but he created women characters that any woman could relate to. The Night Women possess strength, gumption, skill and a desire for freedom and they're willing to get it at any cost. These women led by Homer, a house slave, aren't fazed by the absence of men in this plot. They carry the load as they strategically use their plantation jobs to work for them. They know everything going on everywhere on the plantation.

In the beginning I wasn't sure about this book because the patois/dialect frustrated me initially but I endured and it was well worth my time. I would recommend this book to anyone as a must-read and I nominate James for the Pulitzer Prize (if he is an American citizen that is.) However, for now, Marlon James is the 2011 award winner of the Spinks Prize for literary fiction. :)

This book is library worthy!

I picked this book based on the reviews and the title. I thought it was about something else. Boy was I surprised.

I learned a lot from this book. It certainly reminds you of how brutal and harsh things were for slaves. You'll find yourself shaking your head and wondering how people can be so sadistic and cruel to any other living being. You'll want to jump in the book and stop some of the goings on but you'd be scared to cause you'd be next.

I'm glad that I bought this book in electronic format (Kindle for PC) because it made it easy for me to research terms that I didn't know anything about.

As far as the language, I was more offended by the brutality of what was happening. They refer to genitalia a lot and the "n-word" is heavily used - so keep that in mind.

The reason that I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because (like another reviewer said) - character building of the other 4 ladies (instead of just the main 2) was missing. You didn't get an in-depth look into them.

I can recommend this book to anyone even slightly interested in the subject matter. I plan on reading more books written by Marlon James.

Evertime I read another book about slavery in the America's, slavery comes across as more and more evil. I have read many books on slavery in the US, I have read several regarding Haiti, and the overthrow of the French. Slavery has been a chapter or two in books I have read about the Carribean,but this is the first full book I have read about slavery in Jamaica.

It proved one thing to me,No matter where in the America's, North, Central or South America where slavery was practiced, it was the same, inhumane.

The things these women went through and still remained strong makes (to me) powerful reading.

I very rarely givee a book a 5. I have to find it super powerful to earn that rating. This was one of those books.

The Book of Night Women is my absolute favorite read of 2009. The author, Marlon James, tells the story of Lilith who's the daughter of a young female slave and a white overseer. She's born on a Jamaican sugar cane plantation in the 18th century and is deemed somewhat special from the onset. As she grows up, she becomes acquainted with Homer, a house slave able to read and who recognizes that she may be the key to an insurrection ten years in the making. As Lilith grows into a young woman, she becomes more aware and fearful of a "darkness" present within herself. This darkness she will have to choose to embrace or suppress.

I absolutely love this book. I was ready to re-read it almost immediately. The author, a man, has done a wonderful job of writing women characters that are real women. They each have their own voice and personality and none are too passive or aggressive. He writes all the characters well, for that matter. They are all so human. The whites who are upholding slavery are obviously flawed but not just because they uphold a system of treating people like chattel, but also because some of them can't even keep up the charade of heartlessness. James makes strong use of the patois dialect and the dialogue between characters was often crass and vulgar. For me, there was quite a bit of nervous laughter while reading this book and I never got completely comfortable with the harsh language. But, I think this is good as it exemplifies how well paced the novel is and how Marlon James is a master story teller. No matter what was said and how it was said, I was completely engrossed in the narrative.

The idea that a group of women could come together to attempt something so dangerous and requiring such cunning and craftiness makes the story appealing. It was refreshing to read a story of plantation life that didn't depict the women as all merely helpless creatures susceptible to being ravished by any and every man. This does occur but these women are not afraid to take control be it through physical violent recourse or Obeah. Elements like Obeah, patois dialect, and maroon communities in cooperation with slave owners made for a rich tale of Jamaican plantation life. The most important element were these women who were bound in body but not in mind and spirit.