Customer Reviews

Crossing the River

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Caryl Phillips' Booker Prize shortlisted "Crossing The River" (CTR) about the emergence of an African diaspora arising from the slave trade with the African colonies is a collection of seemingly unrelated vignettes spanning over 100 years which share the same emotional core. Each of the four segments making up CTR is a cry from the soul, which poignantly if not bitterly captures the essence of the cultural dislocation suffered by those sold to foreign lands. Some, like Nash in "Pagan Coast", imbibe the Christian values of their colonial masters but experience the pull of their native calling when they are set free and returned as missionaries. Others like Martha, from "West", suffer the misery, indignity and hopelessness that only chattels should know. Phillips isn't out to demonise the white man. He leaves it to us to judge. How do we doubt do-gooder Edward's sincerity in making Nash into a new man ? But then there is also skipper James Hamilton's indifference to the cruelty meted out to slaves in the title segment. The final segment "Somewhere in England" doesn't seem to belong but it does. The strong emotional resonance that these stories evoke is what binds them together. Phillips also displays his literary genius and stylistic versatility in using different styles for the different segments. His Conrad-influenced prose in "Pagan Coast" boasts some of the most beautiful and fluent writing ever. On "Somewhere in England", he comes across like a contemporary novelist using prose punctuated by thought fragments. "CTR" brings four separate but all desperately heartrending stories together. The names of the three children - 2 boys and a girl - sold to slavery by their father in an act of desperate foolishness and named Nash, Martha and Taylor, all make their appearances. They are the countless nameless who consititute the African diaspora today. CTR is a brilliantly constructed and devastatingly powerful piece of work. Nobody interested in serious literature should miss it !

This is without a doubt one of the best books that I have ever read. Its stories are haunting in their insight into human beings. While extremely thought provoking, it is also beautiful and moving. I highly recommend this book.

The beauty of the language and the sweep of the narrative make this novel a moving and powerful experience for the reader. Caryl Phillips explores the abandonment and misery of slavery without indicting any of the participants above the rest. In fact, the prologue begins the story with the guilty voice of the father who sells his children to a white slaver out of "a desperate foolishness" when his crops fail. The reader follows the sin and suffering of all of the participants in the slave trade, black and white, and the virtuosity of Caryl Phillips use of language makes the journey both emotional and memorable.

Eventhough the book is composed by four different unrelated stories, of a black evaegelist in Liberia, a black woman heading for a new life in California during the pilgrimage of the XIX century, the Captain of a slaves trading vessel, and a G.I in England during the II World War; for me there is a phrase that encompass most of the sadness and despair that goes with a life that other persons have damaged and limited due to the shade of your skin and not because of your actions and omissions.

"The young evangelist preached with all his might, but Marta could not find solace in religion, and was unable to sympathize with the sufferings of the sun of God when set against her own private misery".

though it was my original impulse to do so, i felt bad giving this book 2 stars because i was able to read it pretty well all the way through, and i was kept somewhat interested in what was going to happen next, and i liked the overall idea of the book - to explore some of the less obvious aspects of the impact of slavery. however, when considering the 4 topics chosen for this book, there seems no obvious reason as to why they were chosen. they are not connected in any way other than they involve descendents of slaves, and they dont seem to be of any other objective importance. within that, there are some innovative storytelling techniques, such as the story of the ship being told through the daily log, but then there are the parts where the captain is writing love letters, which seems to have nothing to do with the story other than to show him as having two different aspects to his personality, and to explore the way in which the writer is able to emulate an 18th century writing style. however, there is nothing dramatically important about those letters. we dont get to know the captain in enough contexts in order to care much about his love life - especially one so mushy. similarly, there is no real reason that the former slave master visits liberia, and there are no real character traits explored. after reading the book, im left thinking: "liberia was interesting." "there were black pioneers?" "slave ships sucked." "it must have been hard to have an interracial relationship in the 40s." and not much else. not much else is given, other than a writing style that is true to the time periods it discusses.

This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1993, Britain's equivalent to the Pulitzer. Phillips was born in the West Indies but raised in England, and the book is a series of first person narratives and stories told from a variety of points of view: an African father who sells his children into slavery, a freed slave in the South, an African-American GI in World War II. It moves from 1830s to 1960s in a sweeping look at the African Diaspora caused by slavery.

I love Phillips' writing style in this historical fiction. I read it ten years ago, and it is still one of my favorites that I lend out to friends with positive response.