Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book on a young slave, September 18, 2000
A Kid's Review
"Letters from a Slave Girl" is one of the best books I've read on slavery! It tells the story of Harriet Jacobs, written in letter form to her deceased relatives - similar to a diary. She tells her life over the years, as a slave, being harassed by her master, escaping, and being hidden. It's very realistic and interesting, as well as very emotional, with both good and bad times. I'd recommend this book for ages 11 and up, and I'd also recommend "A Wolf by the Ears", "A Picture of Freedom", and "I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly", which are other great books on slavery.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A clear picture of slavery, October 20, 2003
By A Customer
I never had a clearer picture of slavery until I read this book.The Author's Note at the end was fascinating. I found that Lyons based the fictional Harriets grammar and spelling on the real Harriets letters, written twenty to thirty years after she escaped. Lyons also used real ex-slave narratives collected in North Carolina in the 1930s by the Works Project Administration. Did some of these former slaves speak in dialect? Yup. Some spoke standard English, too. Just like today, Southern speech has many voices, and thats what makes it interesting. Finally, readers of the Authors Note will discover that when the real Harriet wrote her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she, too, invented dialogue with dialect. Have you ever noticed how Southern speech, both black and white, is often mocked in print, television, and movies? This is a quick and dirty way for the media to suggest stupidity. Without even realizing it, viewers might absorb the message that Southerners, especially African Americans, are inferior. But that message is flat-out wrong. Southern speech is loaded with metaphor, imagery, humor, and wisdom. Thats why many people enjoy reading literature set in the South. So if you are one of them, read Letters from a Slave Girl! Its about as close as you can get to an authentic Southern black voice from 19th century coastal North Carolina.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"A great novel to share. It will make you cry!", January 4, 2000
By A Customer
Letters from a Slave Girl: the Story of Harriet Jacob by, Mary Lyons Imagine being in an attic for seven long years of your life with no one to talk to and nothing to do except write in a journal. This is how Harriet Jacobs in the novel, Letters from a Slave Girl: the Story of Harriet Jacobs, feels. This historical fiction story is told through imaginary letters written by Harriet to her loved ones, which make this novel a fantastic piece of work. The author, Mary Lyons, takes us back to the slave era, where blacks were seen as inferiors to whites. She creates a female protagonist who is filled with such bravery and excitement, which makes her character seem so realistic. She tells this powerful story in such great detail that it leaves a trail of tissues behind. Harriet Jacobs, a slave who is seeking freedom from her mistress's father, Dr. Norcum, after being harassed verbally and physically, runs away to claim her freedom. She escapes to the attic of her grandmother's house for seven long years of her life. In the attic she has to be quiet, and is unable to move around. In the winter she freezes, and in the summer she is blistering hot. She has nothing else to do all day, except write in her journal, where she expresses her feelings since she has no one to confide in. Later she escapes to the North, where she plays an active role in helping slaves escape to the "free states." She also writes an autobiography of her life as a slave and the dreadful life she lives. She wanted to make a difference in the world, and didn't want anyone to go through the pain and suffering that she went through. This novel portrays the fact that when people go through a miserable experience in life, they try to prevent the same thing from happening to others. In this book, Harriet is petrified of Dr. Norcum, and after enduring all the pain and suffering brought on by slavery, she decides to run away to escape from all her pain, and Dr. Norcum's controlling ways. When she escapes to the "free states" she joins an abolition movement to prevent slavery. Harriet is so full of passion and perseverance, so full of fire, it gives this book its zing. Harriet is a heroine striving against a backdrop of actual events, and real characters. She reveals underlying truths in the sad histories of many slaves. This book reveals the inhumanity suffered by our ancestors. Displayed by the fictitious letter this story is written so you can successfully experience the sentimental value, which the slaves portrayed. Your emotions will run wild from anger and excitement to sadness and fear. One minute you will be sitting on your bed reading, and the next, you will be running through the woods with Harriet trying to escape to the "free states." Letters from a Slave Girl: the Story of Harriet Jacob's is a fantastic achievement. It successfully expresses the emotions that people felt in the slave era. You will fear and cry right along with the characters as though you were right there with them! This historical fiction novel is a rewarding book that will teach and inspire!
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