Washington Black

A Novel

De: Esi Edugyan

Narrado por: Dion Graham

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • “A gripping historical narrative exploring both the bounds of slavery and what it means to be truly free.” —Vanity Fair

Eleven-year-old George Washington Black—or Wash—a field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master’s brother. To his surprise, however, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning, and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human.

But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash’s head, they must abandon everything and flee together. Over the course of their travels, what brings Wash and Christopher together will tear them apart, propelling Wash ever farther across the globe in search of his true self. Spanning the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, London to Morocco, Washington Black is a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, and of a world destroyed and made whole again.

©2018 Esi Edugyan (P)2018 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Perfectly executed . . . Soaring . . . More than a tale of human bondage, it’s also an enthralling meditation on the weight of freedom, wrapped in a rousing adventure story stretching to the ends of the earth.” —Renée Graham, The Boston Globe

“Terrifically exciting . . . An engrossing hybrid of 19th-century adventure and contemporary subtlety, a rip-roaring tale of peril imbued with our most persistent strife . . . Discover what the rest of the world already knows: Edugyan is a magical writer.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“Riveting . . . [A] towering achievement . . . Edugyan is one of our sharpest and deepest writers of historical fiction.” —David Canfield, Entertainment Weekly

4.16 stars

Washington Black is the story of a young boy born into slavery and his everlasting struggle to escape. The novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and it’s good, though I enjoyed a couple others on the list maybe a little more. Regardless, it’s deserving of its recognition. Wash, the protagonist, takes the listener all across the globe in his perilous journeys. It’s a bit like an English version of the Underground Railroad. This was my third audiobook narrated by Dion Graham, and another excellent performance, though I thought his portrayal of crying was a bit over the top. All in all, it’s a solid audiobook.

Overall rating: 4.16 stars

Washington Black: a different story

I will say this book is astounding yet my concerns are with how the book ended it wasn’t enough closure, the performer was amazing and the way he did voices for the characters was brilliant!

Unresolved with some loose ends, but interesting.

This sort of a quest novel had some very interesting and engaging elements, but many unresolved characters and plot lines. The book begins in the early 19th century on a Barbados sugar plantation, a grim reminder of the economic engine that drove the concept of race-based slavery. The usual cruelties and sadism ensue, but then a kindly abolitionist takes charge of the main character, Washington Black, a young boy. They escape Barbados - and slavery in a hot-air ballon.

Edugyan invents some intersting characters - a forensic doctor who runs his station of the Underground Railroad from newly-dug graves, a polar explorer, a mixed race marine biologist's daughter who prefers sacks to corsets. But the author also abandons most of her characters in unsatisfying, unresolved ways that leave the reader somewhat jolted. Other characters are introduced gratuitously and then abandoned.

The book has a big challenge in that the main character is not only a black slave, but severely disfigured early in the book. Yet he manages to become a world traveler with educated Victorian diction and manners, even though the society he moves in is racist and he is apparently penniless. This makes the book farfetched but at least has interesting settings.

Overall, though unresolved, and the reader follows the quest dilligently only to wonder what Washington Black was searching FOR.

Wonderful,

This has to be my second favorite book ever. It is a history lesson of the best fashion. The pain and love in this novel is palpable! Great book!

All encompassing and sweeping take of a young black boy escaped from slavery

This is a wondrous book, telling the terrifying and sensory details of enslaved plantation life for a young black boy before he meets the brother of his owner, a warm and caring scientist with wild ideas and complicated privilege. We follow the boy washington black throughout his life into young adulthood. Great reading and gorgeous language. At times, the descriptions of nature and experiments were astonishingly beautiful. Great and unique read!

So good!

I loved this book. Great character development and story. The Narrator is one of the best I've heard.

powerful and engaging story

loved listening to the voices of the many characters. this book was so powerful and engaging!

Best of the year

Simply outstanding! Great story and rich descriptions. Esi Edyguan is amazing at painting the story with words. Dion Graham was excellent in the performance. Must read and/or listen!

Searching

Searching. We all are. And, we all are.
We all are, and we always have been.

struggled to finish

The story intruiged me but failed to capture my full interest or imagination. I found the narration pretentious, overplayed, even somewhat annoying. The events are described as almost dream-like sequences along a timeline in which an enslaved child grows up to be a brilliant yet psychologically wounded free man. It is a story full of struggle, containing a cast of eccentric characters, all flawed, with power plays at every turn. Science, beauty and many philosophical musings pepper this storyline. There is so much going on at once, but the author, in my opinion, did not achieve the cohesive balance that would have made the book flow, it just did not all come together satifactorily.