Unbound a novel in verse
Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism
Original publication date: September 26th, 2016
Book description: The day Grace is called from the slave cabins to work in the Big House, Mama makes her promise to keep her eyes down. Uncle Jim warns her to keep her thoughts tucked privately in her mind or they could bring a whole lot of trouble and pain.
But the more Grace sees of the heartless Master and hateful Missus, the more a rightness voice clamors in her head-asking how come white folks can own slaves, sell them on the auction block, and separate families forever. When that voice escapes without warning, it sets off a terrible chain of events that prove Uncle Jim's words true. Suddenly, Grace and her family must flee deep into the woods, where they brave deadly animals, slave patrollers, and the uncertainty of ever finding freedom.
But the more Grace sees of the heartless Master and hateful Missus, the more a rightness voice clamors in her head-asking how come white folks can own slaves, sell them on the auction block, and separate families forever. When that voice escapes without warning, it sets off a terrible chain of events that prove Uncle Jim's words true. Suddenly, Grace and her family must flee deep into the woods, where they brave deadly animals, slave patrollers, and the uncertainty of ever finding freedom.
Thoughts:
This is a quick powerful story. You see the life of Grace and she is struggling to understand her life and the unfairness of it. You see a lot of religious belief as Grace's mother teaches her that the Lord loves you and that enduring harsh conditions here and being good will give her a reward in heaven once they all die.
Grace is a very smart girl and her questions these wise words, she questions why the white people in their lives behave the way they do towards them, making them work more, get less food, get punished for no real reason. She is not the typical slave as she has a difficult time keeping her mind to herself and she is made to feel guilty and wrong to have a mind of her own.
She is a naive girl and yet forced to grow up real fast in a world where you are hated for no reason than the color of your skin.
She is doubly hated, she is the daughter of a slave, but she is more white. As the reader you know the reason, she is the daughter of a white man, probably the one she is taught to be afraid of, and the white woman who is Ms. of the house. The Ms of the house hates her for being white, and for being black, she feels alienated from everyone, her people because she is not as dark, and yet she is not considered white because she is a slave!
She is forced to change her mind as well when she and her family are forced to take a decision of something that they were scared of all their life. They must run away from their plantation in order to keep their family safe and together. They go from being meek people who must keep their heads down and just take whatever the whites send their way to be strong and face the wilderness without any real idea on how they will survive or if they will perish in the try.
It is a very enchanting story. I enjoyed it very much, even if at some times it gets annoying, others get sad, I mean at least for me we get a lot of emotional hits.
This is another of the books we have free in the subscription in Scribd and I think its a wonderful story, it has a great narrator and it is an easy read (listen to).
Totally recommended!
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