The Book of Night Women

The book follows the life of a slave girl named Lilith. Neglected and isolated, Lilith develops a crush on her master and falls in love with another white man as the story progresses. This is not a slave romance story. The book treats this as abnormal. The author carefully paints a complex world where the reader will understand why Lilith falls in love and why there cannot be a true relationship between a slave & master. A slave and master relationship is akin to that of a child with a physically and mentally abusive parent. The story isn't an easy read because the language & the institution of slavery are brutal. Additionally, some readers may have difficulty reading books written in a dialect. Those who can deal with the authentic ugliness of life under slavery will find a beautifully written tale that is spellbinding. Slaves have strengths & courage. Freedom is the goal. Resistance & rebellion are the tools to gain it. For Lilith, both slaves and masters have their own agendas, and both will use her as a tool. But she is resilient. She will grow and learn. Readers will cheer and yell as she does. The plot is tight, tension abounds, I found myself unsure of what I wanted to happen at the end, but able to trust that the author would give me a satisfying one, and he did.

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I majored in the history of Africans in the Americas, and I thought I’d seen it all. I was wrong. There is great beauty in this but it is difficult to put my finger on. The relationships between the women weren’t beautiful. The relationships between Lilith and men weren’t beautiful. There was nothing ennobling about this system. Not for the owners of humans, and not for the ones who labored. The author was able to detail so much I didn’t know, from tribal attributes and affinities of the enslaved to Irish, French and English divisions amongst the owners. All this was done as part of a fascinating story, which used dialect and repetition to evoke time and place. I recommended this book to everyone I know, but with the caveat that the brutality is constant and incredibly disturbing. As I read, I kept thinking I’d gotten past the worst of it. That never happened, and somehow the author was able to make every instance as horrific as the last; I never became desensitized toward it. Overall a ridiculously wonderful book far too few people will read.

The characters were drawn amazingly well. Their motivations, their desires, and actions made them come alive. And the story was exciting. The story was so well done I imagine it is going to rival the Nat Turner rebellion movie that's due out soon. It took some time to get used to reading the dialect of the narrators. But once I got past that, there was hardly a moment where I couldn't wait to read the next page. That's the mark of a great book or at least great entertainment. A day or so after I'd finished, though I wondered though, how a black woman writer would have written this differently. I was certain a black woman wouldn't have been so graphic with the language in the mouths of the women. Would this be more or less accurate? I don't know. But I think that piece would have been different. The thing that would have been most different would have been some of the thoughts IF NOT the ultimate behaviors of the main black female character. The main character might have arrived at the same point, but her path would have been a little bit more nuanced. During the first third of the book, the main character is naive in a way that seems quite black female stereotypical. Then again, the character is very young during the first part of the book. So maybe she isn't. But the thing that bothered me was that there were brief but critical moments toward the end of the novel where I felt confused about the character's motives BECAUSE the same issue rises again. The main character is slapped by someone she's trying to trust, by one of the only people that's ever treated her with care. It seems like eighty percent of getting to know the main character is getting to hear her thoughts in the form of wishes, dreams, and hatreds. But when she is slapped, there is a virtual silence in her head. There are critical moments when this comparatively minor attack (and others more severe) should have come back to her mind and influenced her decision making and her actions, but it didn't. Her counter-part in those scenes? The man? I don't think he could have been drawn more perfectly. There were things that main character didn't that didn't like, things I did that I did understand, and things I wish I didn't understand. There were also things I learned, about groups like the maroons, that I didn't know before. These two things plus the entertainment factor, make this a great book all by itself. But those moments when the main black female character DOES think about severe abuses happening to others but barely stops to think about the mild* abuse she herself is receiving from a man just because that man makes her feel good is something only a man could write. At the very least, there should have been a mature woman's conclusion about what she'd experienced. Once I finished the book, I felt like maybe some 2016 stereotypes of black women and women in general had pushed themselves into the story. Then again, I wonder if it is more accurate to say the author made some of characters, including the main character, out to be child like in their thinking just because they were living in times not as sophisticated(?) as now. Some people really do almost see the people of history as children that didn't know any better when it comes to racism and sexism. Maybe her simplicity of mind, even at the end was what he was trying to convey and I simply didn't like it because it doesn't ring true to me.

I was torn between 4 and 5 stars for this but ultimately it is better than most of not all months 4 stars I have given, so I have gone for 5. This is the second Marlon James book I have read and like the a brief history of seven killings, James brings an air of mystique to this tale of slavery in 18th century Jamaica. James is able to seamlessly bring together history, folklore, love, hate, anger, revenge, grief and human suffering and his writing is of the highest pregnancy the depth of character and superb character Development really drives this book and takes kingdom good to excellent. His main character Lileth is superbly drawn; I believed in her at all times and felt exactly what she was going through. For me personally I would like the folklore element to have developed but it's a very small gripe in a near perfect read.

Wow felt like I was there such insight to slavery should be a compulsory school text wherever Jamaicans live

As a literary work, it's totally compelling. The prose and the vernacular dialogue make for a really immersive experience. As a piece of historical fiction, it's both informative and provides an intense depiction of the slave trade and how it dehumanized both slaver and slave. Whether or not you're interested that period of history or are comfortable with vivid descriptions of cruelty and violence, I can't imagine anyone walking away from this book feeling unmoved. I totally recommend it.

Diese Lektüre ist absolut nicht einfach, und das aus zwei Gründen: das ganze Buch ist in Jamaika Patois geschrieben und die Handlung ist manchmal sehr brutal und direkt. Mein erster Versuch ging daneben und ich habe aufgegeben, da ich fast nichts verstanden habe. Ich habe dann während meines Jamaika-Urlaubs andere Bücher von Jamaikanischen Schriftstellern gelesen und mich nach und nach an die Schreibweise angewöhnt - was vielleicht auch etwas einfacher war, wenn man es täglich hört. Ich habe deshalb einen zweiten Anlauf genommen und bin absolut begeistert von diesem Buch. Es ist eine traurige Geschichte mit viel Elend aber auch viel Grösse und viel Gefühlen. Die ganze Erzählung geht um Lillith und ihre Entwicklung. Bevor ich ein anderes Buch lesen konnte, brauchte ich nach diesem einige Tage Distanz.

well done. we need more books and talent like hers