The Known World

By: Edward P. Jones

Narrated by: Kevin Free

Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2004

National Book Critics Circle Award, Fiction, 2004

Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief; and things begin to fall apart: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love beneath the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend estate, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave "speculators" sell free black people into slavery; and rumor of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.

An ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, The Known World weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians, and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery.

©2003 Edward P. Jones (P)2003 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2005

"A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon." (Time)

"This remarkable novel, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award and short-listed for the National Book Award, deserves all the acclaim it has won and then some, especially in this flawless rendition.... Kevin Free's narration is so accomplished that when a woman character speaks, you utterly forget that she does it through a man's voice. He gives each character color, personality, and heft, without ever vamping or straining for effect. The novel bears comparison with Trollope and Faulkner, and Kevin Free's performance of it is in the same league." (AudioFile)

"A complex, often startling picture of life in the region....[Jones'] narrative achieves crushing momentum through sheer accumulation of detail, unusual historical insight, and generous character writing." (Publishers Weekly)

"Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy." (The New Yorker)

Great perspective

This was a great book! Yes it is a little slow but the detail is necessary to understand the characters. If you are going to read this book go in with an open mind

Excellent Story

Very well written and read. The voice inflections helped to improve the over all experience.

One great listen, a mesmerizing tale!

Facinating for anyone remotely interested in history of the south. A little tough to follow the characters at times but worth the work.

Great listening and great history

Loved the evolution of the characters and the resolution. A different lesson about slavery.

Unique and Perplexing Content

The Known World, Written by: Edward P. Jones. What would be if a black man in antebellum rural Virginia became a free man, and then acquired property and himself became a slave owner. Take it one step further, what if his wife becomes the plantation Lady and its manager? This is about good people becoming bad, bad people considering good and how humanity perverts itself because somewhere in our genetic makeup we esteem ourselves weather worthy of the reverence or not.

This book came into the known world and rocked literary foundations. One must admit its structural content is unique if not perplexing. The novel won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2004. In 2005 it won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. One would think it was destined for an important demarcation in American literature. It has since fizzled.

Has that failure to become a point of reference in literature, an indication the book is without worth, notwithstanding its stupendous but blunderbuss genesis. Has its fading from popularity been deserved? True the nonnatives are de minimums; but there is a tale here that keeps the reader involved. Certainly, there are many occurrences between the book’s characters that evoke much inner emotions in the reader. Contrarily though, the story, perhaps, is just too beyond what readers today would consider as a true past happening. The story does not fit into our imaginations.

Nevertheless, this is a recommended read as it entertains, generates considerations about slavery and its supporting society and does evoke one’s emotions.

good yarn

This is a marvelously told story of interwoven characters.

Powerful

Beautifully written and very touching, this story was captivating to me. Altho some have complained about the complex number of characters and plot jumps - that didn't bother me at all. Just hang on and go with it.. it all made perfect sense to me. Highly recommended. Probably will read this one again sometime.

Please purchase and read this book

Please tell you loved ones and friends to purchase and read this book. I hope you do

Rewarding read

Takes a difficult topic and makes it possible to experience because it’s told from the depths with warmth.

Will be a classic of African American literature

Reminded me of Toni Morrison's "Paradise." Much more readable than Faulkner. The first time you read it for the plot. Then read it again for the way everything links together. There are so many different and opposing types of characters whose inner lives are convincingly conveyed. Jones opens new territory by describing slavery as a commonly accepted economic system, with free blacks being even more likely than free whites to own slaves. Wealth and caste are as divisive as race, and a social hierarchy based on wealth as much as skin color means that below God are wealthy whites, then wealthy blacks, then middle class whites, then middle class blacks (a problem category), then poor whites followed by Indians followed by poor blacks, followed by slaves. My only problem is that Jones claims to have done little research, and made up his county to avoid being held to historical sources. But nevertheless, Jones raises so many important themes in this novel that are supported by historical sources. Anyone who likes African American literature or who is interested in the history of slavery or the American South should read this novel. Slavery is a divisive issue in several black families here (no white families). For some, like Caldonia?s mother, is the only source of wealth, a wealth worth murdering for. For others, like Henry, it is simply a means to an end, and for some, like his parents, the entire system is morally objectionable.