Customer Reviews

The Known World CD

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

 

 

Astonished to read the one-star review of this wonderful novel, I felt compelled to write my own. Like many works of contemporary fiction, this novel does move from past to present and back again, but anyone who listens with the least bit of attention should have no trouble following the central--and coherent-- plot. The listener comes to know the three-dimensional characters well: Robbins, Henry Townsend, his wife Cordelia and many others practically leap off the pages, or, more correctly, the CDs as read by Kevin Free, who masterfully suggests a whole host of voices. I strongly recommend this novel to anyone interested in Pulitzer Price-winning literature, a fine, compelling story, and insights into the tragic history of the American South in which former slaves also became slave-owners, a fact I had never known.

I am laughing at the one star review that Smeddley gave this book. No, it is not a book for those who only enjoy reading fluff. It is for people who enjoy getting a glimpse at a little known part of history, as if you were seeing it directly through the eyes of those who lived it. I am totally engrossed in this story, and the sound of the voice on this audio reading is captivating and soothing.

I didn't get very far into this one, just over 3 of the 15 hours. And I just stopped. I couldn't take it anymore.

Mostly, it didn't seem to have a very coherent plot. We went from "And here's this character now," to "oh by the way, they lived to be 88, outliving one of their children, who died etc, etc, etc" to "and back to the present..." all the time. There was absolutely no coherent storyline, everything was told in snippets here and there. Here's Henry dying, but this is him as an infant, oh! and here's him getting his first slave, okay, he's dying now, now here's his childhood... My head was just spinning. No book should make you concentrate that hard just to follow the plot.

Granted, I do not tend to go in for the deeper stuff. But this... this is something you could drown in. It was not enjoyable, it was not fun, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you A) really like deep, convoluted stuff, B) are really into the history of the US and want to listen to a story on slavery or C) feel like it would pad your reading resume to read such an `acclaimed' book. Me? I'm off to immerse myself in some fluff. At least I can float along that and enjoy it.