Okay, so I'm still working on novel #1 but, while that's in the editing process, I'm researching novel #2 which is going to be about the Civil War. As a consequence, there will be a whole bunch of books about the Civil War appearing on this blog for which I apologize. Or you're welcome, depending on how you view it. It is also a distinct possibility that I will never stop researching the Civil War. The more books about it I read, the more books about it I discover that I want to read.
I decided I needed to read this since Lincoln so famously (and not entirely unjustly) accused Stowe of starting the Civil War by writing and publishing this book. It was widely read at the time it was published and widely discussed so, it only made sense that I should read it for myself to see what all the fuss was about.
I think the biggest lesson for me here was that abolitionist does not equal not racist (pardon the double negative). It was actually pretty amusing in that Stowe clearly thought she was not being racist. Yet there are scenes in which black people remark on how smart white people are. Throughout the novel there are numerous references to their "childlike" and "simple" natures. She tries to put a rosy light on all of it but mostly it just comes off sounding condescending.
Overall, it was a bit heavy on the message for me but I suppose that's to be expected. Having grown up in a world where it is undeniably clear that slavery is wrong, period, of course I would get tired of someone telling me over and over what is already so obvious. To be fair, it probably wouldn't have gotten the attention it did in the 1850s if Stowe hadn't insisted on beating her reader over the head with that idea. I also found the religious message to be a bit much, but that's personal taste.
In addition, I found the book a little hard to swallow because it was so melodramatic. However, that is consistent with literature of the time period so I can't really hold that against her. But that doesn't mean I had to stop rolling my eyes every time she conjured some image which, to her readers, must have seemed heroic but, by today's standards, is considered cheesy.
After all this, you might be surprised to find that, overall, I did like it. I won't read it again, but I found it a fast and engaging read (minus the preachy parts). There were some likable characters, although I didn't get emotionally attached to any of them to care when they died. On the other hand, that may just have been because of the massive foreshadowing Stowe used every time she killed a character. It was a bit of a turn off, but I think that just makes me a product of my generation, in which everything has to be a SURPRISE!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment