Sweetsmoke (Hardcover)

by David Fuller (Author)
Key Phrases: sour eyes, drinking gourd, jalap bindweed, Big Gus, Mam Rosie, Richard Justice (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Mystery novels, ever in need of fresh points of view, are given to strange genre hybrids like Fuller's debut novel: part investigative procedural, part narrative of American slave life. Cassius, a secretly literate slave on a Civil War–era Virginia tobacco plantation, is determined to track down whoever killed his mentor and surrogate mother, Emoline Justice, a free black woman. Making liberal use of his limited freedoms, Cassius takes to the road, playing the obvious disadvantages of life under the yoke to his favor. Along the way, he encounters slave traders, Underground Railroad conspirators, Confederate soldiers, Northern spies and a wide assortment of African-Americans, slave and free. Fuller, a screenwriter, has palpable sympathy for his African-American characters, and Cassius's encounters with other characters—like the haunted slave owner Hoke Howard—are the book's strongest parts. Unfortunately, Fuller's solid plot doesn't carry the novel through to its end, and, despite sourcing the work of historians Eugene Genovese and John Hope Franklin, the novel gives off a distinct whiff of unreality. (Sept.)
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Product Description
"David Fuller vividly and movingly describes the life of Cassius, a slave on a Virginia tobacco plantation. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Sweetsmoke resonates with unforgettable characters and is a gripping story of loss and survival."
--Robert Hicks, author of The Widow of the South

"Sweetsmoke is a fascinating and gripping novel about the Civil War. The slave, Cassius Howard, is a great fictional character, and his story is part mystery, part love story, and a harrowing portrait of slavery that reads with the immense power of the slave narratives. A tour de force for David Fuller."
--Pat Conroy, author of Beach Music and South of Broad

"With Sweetsmoke, David Fuller gives an extraordinarily nuanced, privileged, and convincing view of the world of slavery during the American Civil War, and of the hearts and minds of the men and women who had to live in that world."
--Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls' Rising and Toussaint Louverture

The year is 1862, and the Civil War rages through the South. On a Virginia tobacco plantation, another kind of battle soon begins. There, Cassius Howard, a skilled carpenter and slave, risks everything--punishment, sale to a cotton plantation, even his life--to learn the truth concerning the murder of Emoline, a freed black woman, a woman who secretly taught him to read and once saved his life. It is clear that no one cares about her death in the midst of a brutal and hellish war. No one but Cassius, who braves horrific dangers to escape the plantation and avenge her loss.

As Cassius seeks answers about Emoline's murder, he finds an unexpected friend and ally in Quashee, a new woman brought over from another plantation; and a formidable adversary in Hoke Howard, the master he has always obeyed.

With subtlety and beauty, Sweetsmoke captures the daily indignities and harrowing losses suffered by slaves, the turmoil of a country waging countless wars within its own borders, and the lives of those people fighting for identity, for salvation, and for freedom.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401323316
• ISBN-13: 978-1401323318
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #384,555 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery, Slavery, War = The Making of a Civil War Novel, August 23, 2008

By	Dera R Williams (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The much awaited Civil War novel, Sweetsmoke, by screenwriter, David Fuller, explores slave/carpenter Cassius Hoke's day-to-day existence on Plantation Sweetsmoke in Virginia. Cassius learns about the death of Emoline, the freedwoman who nursed him back to health and taught him to read and write. When it is apparent it is murder, he sets out to avenge her death.

As the story progressed, I became convinced why a black woman's death, slave or free, would have a devastating affect on both black and white, and especially Cassius, as the author drew a picture of Emoline as savior and guardian angel, yet a flawed and vulnerable woman. Emoline and Cassius have a special bond through his owner and her former owner, Hoke Howard, the tortured master of Sweetsmoke. Cassius plots his investigation carefully, yet methodically, never wavering from his mission to find the truth. For every answer Cassius gets, there arises another question; just who was Emoline, other than the woman who rescued him after the most devastating time of his life? A fortunate teller, a healer, and a risk taker; she taught him to read and write and exposed him to literature at a time when it was against the law to teach a slave to read, but Emoline had many secrets.

Cassius' past and present collide amidst the superstitious beliefs of the slaves; there is an aura of bad luck that surrounds him. But while he is somewhat of a pariah, he is also a trusted slave and respected among the field hands and the house servants. Nevertheless, his life as a slave is no less easy; the daily existence to not only stay alive, but to stay one step ahead of those who own him. With the need to not only hide his intelligence, but to downplay it for mere survival, Cassius smiles and flatters, manipulates and connives, while courting freedom. Cassius thinks he finds a kindred spirit in Quashee, a newly arrived slave, and uses his influence to raise her status on the plantation. She also unwittingly helps him in his dangerous quest of finding Emoline's murderer.

There was great detail in this novel. Several aspects of slave life were examined; the courting rituals of slaves, which could be political, the social and cultural aspects, the subterfuge and outwitting for self-preservation; interaction between slaves and freedmen, field hands and house slaves. Slaves turned on each other but also helped each other and kept each others' secrets. Readers also see how slaves played a part in helping those who sought freedom as conductors in the Underground Railroad and how many were agents of one kind of another in the war that was being fought between the Confederacy and the Union. Cassius stealthily goes from plantation to plantation and into town, picking up bits of news and gossip, when fate steps in and he is sent to the battlefields by his owner. His journey is long, arduous, difficult and dangerous but it is a means to an end for Cassius; two fold, to find the truth and a quest for freedom.

Fuller embodied his characters with dignity and intelligence, revealing their flaws, yet illuminating their sense of values and beliefs. At times the reading was slow; there was so much to take in, but I did not want to miss anything as the author beautifully painted a picture of slave life that is not often told. Fuller's impeccable research and attention to detail is not without notice. I was particularly in awe of learning about the storytelling competitions among slaves that traveled from plantation to plantation. Of course, I knew about the stories of the griots dating back to Africa; this tidbit confirmed that the ancestors' gift for tall tales was a reality. Chosen as a publisher's pick and already hinting at becoming required reading in high schools, Sweetsmoke, is a worthy addition to the slave narrative as two other 2008 historical fiction releases, Song Yet Song by James McBride and Stand the Storm by Breena Clark. A great addition to the libraries of fans of the Civil War and slavery literature. 4.5 rating.

Dera R. Williams
APOOO BookClub

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (4.5) "Don't love nothing in this life. You only give them power over your mind, as well as your body.", August 10, 2008

By	Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Set in 1862, the second year of the Civil War in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Sweetsmoke, a tobacco plantation struggles to meet the demands of the Confederate Army and the rigors of the planting season. A third-generation plantation owner, Hoke Howard is a hard man, but fair he thinks, handling his slaves with authority and brutality when it is warranted. Cassius is a favored slave, a carpenter who suffers the envy of the field hands for his larger cabin and small leniencies afforded him by the owner. Howard and his wife have lost one son to the war, another fighting on the front; Hoke increasingly relies on Cassius, believing the man to be of excellent quality, a sound investment: "We are, after all benevolent... our people are well-served." Regardless of whatever feelings churn on the inside, Cassius shows nothing to the world, having accepted the limitations of his very existence, freedom but a distant hope and years away. Cautious and enterprising, Cassius keeps to himself in an environment where danger comes from any direction, from the whites, or the petty jealousies of other slaves, their belongings, including pride, meager.

Fuller beautifully describes this nightmarish landscape, characters defined by their circumstances and limitations, Cassius's life one of nearly unendurable grief. Nursed back to physical and emotional health after the loss of his wife and the uncertain fate of his son, Cassius is profoundly grateful for the ministrations of a local freed black woman, Emoline Justice. A healer/herbalist, Emoline nurses the broken Cassius, teaching him the forbidden- reading- over the long, pain-wracked nights of his recovery. Such small moments of grace keep Cassius from despair. When Emoline is found murdered, it becomes Cassius's mission in life to track down her killer and exact revenge. Only one other woman has touched his heart besides Emoline, a new slave, bright and beautiful and coveted by other men on the plantation, men with more power and opportunity than Cassius. Armed with a list of names, Cassius eliminates suspects, determined to find Emoline's murderer, even if his own life is forfeit. Indeed, life is a cheap commodity for such a heart-heavy man, the quality of his days enhanced by small victories and one woman's proprietary glances.

In Fuller's stark reckoning, every aspect of Cassius's world is fraught with danger, a pervasive air of menace that settles over the plantation like a thick fog. War and grief are omnipresent, accepted liabilities for Cassius, his narrow existence threatened at every turn. Thus does this man embark on a harrowing journey for the truth, perhaps more truth than he expects to discover, from the fields of the plantation to the back roads where he pursues his elusive quarry, armed gunmen with their dogs on the scent of runaway slaves, the safety of an active underground railroad and the realization that even supposed friends often harbor venal instincts. In his quest, Cassius removes the shackles from his soul, his commitment to Emoline breeding a determination to succeed. His every move shadowed with suspicion and the threat of violence, Cassius is driven by his passion to set the old woman at peace while finding his own, perhaps imperfect, but precious nonetheless. Luan Gaines/2008.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Historical Fiction!, August 23, 2008

By	Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

The advanced praise and publisher's accolades for Sweetsmoke are not unwarranted. David Fuller has penned a rich, full-bodied story that centers on a slave's (Cassius) desire to identify the killer of a free-woman who is endeared to him via bewildering circumstances. To its credit, the novel goes deeper than the average "whodunit." It is the equally complex sub-plots, the noble and conniving characters, the accuracy of the historical content, and the wonderfully imagined social network of life, love, loss, and pain on a Virginia Plantation at the onset of the Civil War that add layers of depth and incredible breadth to the story. The politics and racial attitudes of the day are illustrated well in the book which also contained some of the most vivid battlefield scenes I have read.

So often books of this nature cover the master-slave relationship in the perfunctory manner, but Fuller exceeded my expectations by creating some very unique relationships among the slaves and the slave owners. Another aspect that I respected was the equal weight given to the happenings inside the "big house" as well as the slave quarters. He also vigilantly broached valid but unpopular topics such as as slaves supporting the Confederacy and the manipulation, betrayal, and infighting within the slave community. He also showed us the intelligence, bravery, and cunning of Cassius as he navigated the plantation and the free world.

Bottom line: There are several reviews posted already that enthusiastically endorse the novel and I agree wholeheartedly with them. Most likely this novel will make my personal Top Reads list for this year -- I enjoyed it for the history lessons, the mystery, and the characters. This book is firmly on equal footing with The March by E.L. Doctorow, Song Yet Sung by James McBride, and Stand the Storm by Breena Clarke. Recommended for historical fiction fans interested in the US slave institution during the Civil War era.