Customer Reviews

Rich Man's Coffin: The Legend of Black Jack White, An American Slave in New Zealand

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

 

 

Rich Man's Coffin
By Kenneth Gardner
Xlibris Corp-2002
ISBN: 1-4010-4969-9 soft cover
Reviewed by Denise M. Clark
Denise's Pieces Book Reviews
...

Based on a true-life figure, Rich Man's Coffin is a novel revolving around the life of
`Black Jack' White, a former slave who escapes from captivity in his native Mississippi
in 1828 and ultimately finds work on a whaling vessel in New York. He sails around the
Cape to Australia and New Zealand as a cabin boy. Upon his arrival in the South Pacific
however, his life undergoes major changes.

Rich in historical details, customs and dialog, Mr. Gardner has written an ambitious tale
with his story of Arthur H. Alesworth, a black man who shrugged off the chains of slavery
to become a valued member of the indigenous tribe of Maori who live in New Zealand. The novel sweeps the reader into a captivating world of whaling, Maori customs, lifestyle, massacres and forbidden love.

With an easy flowing narrative style, Mr. Gardner brings the South Pacific alive until
the reader can literally feel the sting of sea spray and smell the whale fat boiling in
cauldrons on the beach. In addition, his ability to breathe life into a historical
character is very well done without taking outrageous liberties with the truth,
creating a semi-documentary approach to explore the life of a fascinating yet little known
character of the early 1800's and beyond.

I was severely disappointed by this book. The Amazon reviews said it was good. The basic story seems intriguing. I expected a good read at the very least. But I found that I often couldn't make sense of the story and the sentences were tortured, turgid, or obvious misuses of near-synonyms from Roget's.

-- I didn't realize how bad a book could be until I got my hands on this one. If I could return it, I would. I will end up throwing it away just to keep it off some unsuspecting reader's hands. That's how much I didn't like it. In fact, I got to about page 40 and stopped.

Turning to any page, randomly, I find the following sentences:" Arthur tied his end of the chord to the mast" (43). Cord. "Black Jack was surprised to notice that his ghastly brew was nearing its bottom, along with those of his mates" (79). Misplaced modifier.
"Brothy ocean vapor saturated his heaving lungs and threatened to suffocate his mental valence" (173). What can I say; I'm not making this up.

It's not just the sentence structure.
The arch description of oral sex on page 52 is sniggering, utterly non-sensual and, as we used to say in fourth grade, upid-stay.

More odd sentences below.

The Captain nodded and smiled in assumptive approval. Assumptive?
Standing behind the strongbox, he dispensed each man with a sum and a salute. Dispensed?
As the ship began to turn into the setting sun, he [the Captain] flitted about the deck cheerfully, even stopping to make idle conversation with random members of the working crew.

I do not recommend this book. There are many wonderful books I do like. In fact, I teach literature and enjoy a wide range of classic and modern novels. But this one badly needs an editor and a deep revision.
s

This kid can write! I was more interested in the sentence structure and just the way the words went together than I was in the story. And that is a nailbiter too. Seriously, I found myself rereading paragraphs just for the enjoyment of it. Anywhere you find yourself with this book, make sure you don't mind being embarassed. You will laugh out loud, and carry your hanky. Really!

I'm not sure why the harsh words from the reader from Sacramento on this book. I believe that stopping at page 40 is not a fair way to assess a full-length work of literature. Also, the choice of words for this book are daring, just like the choice of subject matter and the choices made by the real-life hero of this story. I have examined the so-called misuses of synonyms pointed out by the other reviewer, and I find that Mr. Gardner's choice of words are correct as verified by any standard dictionary. Assumptive, dispensed, and flitted are all used correctly. In fact, 'flit' is from an old Norse root which precedes any Greek or Latin root, so perhaps that caused a bit of confusion for someone who claims to be versed in the 'classics.' I highly recommend this book; and I would be hard-pressed to heed advice from a reader who seems so disturbed by a book that he or she obviously did not read.

I was grabbed by this one right away. I was just looking for a nice summer read and this one blew my mind! First of all, I never knew about this aspect of black history, and I think anyone of any color will appreciate how Gardner makes you feel about the hero of this book. How true it all is as the author claims, I don't know. It gets pretty wild!

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book. I can tell you that I got a lot more than I could have ever imagined. I'm not sure what Gardner's formal training is, but he might just be this year's best upshot. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed reading for the sake of reading the words! This book is like flowing poetry without being flowery. And all in a 'guys' novel format. I can't wait for the movie!

The reviewer from Sacramento, giving an excoriating review of only the first 40 pages of a truly marvelous book, after which one must presume the reviewer realized the author was writing so far over the reviewer's head as to cause strain, truly gives truth to the old adage "Those who can, do...Those who cannot, teach."

Whichever educational institute employs the Sacramento reviewer as a teacher of literature, would be well-advised to get their students to sign a disclaimer, promising not to sue them for failing to provide qualified teaching professionals...

And don't worry 'reviewer in Sacramento', there is no doubt that you weren't making those sentences up...In fact, I daresay you never had a creative thought in your entire life...