What do you think?
Rate this book
Feeding the Ghosts
A literary venture into the economic shadow that slavery cast, Feeding the Ghosts, based on a true story, lays bare the raw business of the slave trade. The Zong, a slave ship packed with captive African "stock," is headed to the New World. When illness threatens to disable all on board and cut potential profits, the ship's captain orders his crew to throw the sick into the ocean. After being hurled overboard, Mintah, a young female slave taken from a Danish mission, is able to climb back onto the ship. From her hiding place, she rouses the remaining slaves to rebel and stirs unease among the crew with a voice and conscience they seem unable to silence. Mintah's courage and others' reactions to it unfold in a suspenseful story of the struggle to live even when threatened by oblivion.
230 pages, Paperback
First published August 28, 1997
21 people are currently reading
661 people want to read
About the author
Fred D'Aguiar
32 books53 followersPoet, novelist and playwright Fred D'Aguiar was born in London in 1960 to Guyanese parents. He lived in Guyana until he was 12, returning to England in 1972.
He trained as a psychiatric nurse before reading African and Caribbean Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury, graduating in 1985. His first collection of poetry, Mama Dot (1985), was published to much acclaim and established his reputation as one of the finest British poets of his generation. Along with Airy Hall (1989), it won the Guyana Poetry Prize in 1989 and was followed by British Subjects (1993). His first novel, The Longest Memory (1994), tells the story of Whitechapel, a slave on an eighteenth-century Virginia plantation and won both the David Higham Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread First Novel Award. It was adapted for television and televised by Channel 4 in the UK. His long poem 'Sweet Thames' was broadcast as part of the BBC 'Worlds on Film' series in 1992, winning the Commission for Racial Equality Race in the Media Award.
Fred D'Aguiar was Judith E. Wilson Fellow at Cambridge University (1989-90), Visiting Writer at Amherst College, Amherst, MA (1992-4), and was Assistant Professor of English at Bates College, Lewiston, ME (1994-5). More recently he was Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Miami.
His plays include High Life, which was first produced at the Albany Empire in London in 1987, and A Jamaican Airman Foresees His Death, performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1991.
He is also the author of the novels Dear Future (1996), set on a fictional Caribbean island, and Feeding the Ghosts (1997), inspired by a visit D'Aguiar made to the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool and based on the true story of a slave who survived being thrown overboard with 132 other men, women and children from a slave ship in the Atlantic.
Recent poetry includes Bill of Rights (1998), a long narrative poem about the Jonestown massacre in Guyana in 1979, and a new long narrative poem, Bloodlines, the story of a black slave and her white lover, published in 2000.
Fred D'Aguiar's fourth novel, Bethany Bettany (2003), is centred on a five-year-old Guyanese girl, Bethany, whose suffering symbolises that of a nation seeking to make itself whole again.
He trained as a psychiatric nurse before reading African and Caribbean Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury, graduating in 1985. His first collection of poetry, Mama Dot (1985), was published to much acclaim and established his reputation as one of the finest British poets of his generation. Along with Airy Hall (1989), it won the Guyana Poetry Prize in 1989 and was followed by British Subjects (1993). His first novel, The Longest Memory (1994), tells the story of Whitechapel, a slave on an eighteenth-century Virginia plantation and won both the David Higham Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread First Novel Award. It was adapted for television and televised by Channel 4 in the UK. His long poem 'Sweet Thames' was broadcast as part of the BBC 'Worlds on Film' series in 1992, winning the Commission for Racial Equality Race in the Media Award.
Fred D'Aguiar was Judith E. Wilson Fellow at Cambridge University (1989-90), Visiting Writer at Amherst College, Amherst, MA (1992-4), and was Assistant Professor of English at Bates College, Lewiston, ME (1994-5). More recently he was Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Miami.
His plays include High Life, which was first produced at the Albany Empire in London in 1987, and A Jamaican Airman Foresees His Death, performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1991.
He is also the author of the novels Dear Future (1996), set on a fictional Caribbean island, and Feeding the Ghosts (1997), inspired by a visit D'Aguiar made to the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool and based on the true story of a slave who survived being thrown overboard with 132 other men, women and children from a slave ship in the Atlantic.
Recent poetry includes Bill of Rights (1998), a long narrative poem about the Jonestown massacre in Guyana in 1979, and a new long narrative poem, Bloodlines, the story of a black slave and her white lover, published in 2000.
Fred D'Aguiar's fourth novel, Bethany Bettany (2003), is centred on a five-year-old Guyanese girl, Bethany, whose suffering symbolises that of a nation seeking to make itself whole again.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
March 20, 2018
Wow. Just wow. What an extraordinary novel. Structurally, it consists of a detailing of the voyage and the massacre in part one, an account of the court case in part two (not for mass murder, but a dispute over the insurance claim) and finally, in part three, the amazing Mintah's narrative outlining her point of view of what happened on the Zong and what became of her afterwards. She is a wonderful, wonderful character who is, sadly (I believe), entirely fictional. I would have loved a whole novel devoted to her story.
As to the content, well. It will be a miracle if I can get through this review without swearing frankly. I had no knowledge of the events on which this is based prior to picking up this novel in a charity shop the other week and I was utterly appalled to learn of them.
This book should repulse you. It should make you angry, upset and, if you are white, deeply and bitterly ashamed. To dispose of human life in such a callous and mercenary fashion, to fail, indeed, to view these people as people at all, but instead merely to regard them as cargo or stock is totally and utterly abhorrent. Men, women & children in varying states of health were all tossed overboard purely to maximise profits. (A lesson, if ever there was one, about the evils of unregulated, unrestrained capitalism.)
I found it very hard to read as a result, but this book and others like it are important. More people should be aware of this disgusting episode in what was already a shameful, immoral and evil part of our history because its many ramifications and repercussions are still being felt to this day.
Read this. Weep. Weep and rage. And then make sure you do something to help prevent it or anything like it ever happening again. Challenge and fight racism at every opportunity. Do not vote for those who encourage it or fail to prevent it. Do not allow those who would restore the world order of this time to gain any more power. Protest those of their ilk who have been elected. This story shows us what could happen again if we fail to act.
As to the content, well. It will be a miracle if I can get through this review without swearing frankly. I had no knowledge of the events on which this is based prior to picking up this novel in a charity shop the other week and I was utterly appalled to learn of them.
This book should repulse you. It should make you angry, upset and, if you are white, deeply and bitterly ashamed. To dispose of human life in such a callous and mercenary fashion, to fail, indeed, to view these people as people at all, but instead merely to regard them as cargo or stock is totally and utterly abhorrent. Men, women & children in varying states of health were all tossed overboard purely to maximise profits. (A lesson, if ever there was one, about the evils of unregulated, unrestrained capitalism.)
I found it very hard to read as a result, but this book and others like it are important. More people should be aware of this disgusting episode in what was already a shameful, immoral and evil part of our history because its many ramifications and repercussions are still being felt to this day.
Read this. Weep. Weep and rage. And then make sure you do something to help prevent it or anything like it ever happening again. Challenge and fight racism at every opportunity. Do not vote for those who encourage it or fail to prevent it. Do not allow those who would restore the world order of this time to gain any more power. Protest those of their ilk who have been elected. This story shows us what could happen again if we fail to act.
December 21, 2009
Throughout Fred D’Aguiar’s factually-based novel one character is described and portrayed in full detail and complexity: Mintah. D’Aquiar’s novel chronicles the events aboard the slave ship Zong, where—under orders by Captain Cunningham—the crew throws 132 slaves overboard. In theory, Captain Cunningham issues the orders to “save” the rest of the crew and slaves from disease. In reality, the captain decided they will save on rations by reducing their “stock” and that the slaves, weakened by disease, would fetch more money (from the insurance company) dead than alive.
Of the 132 slaves thrown overboard, Mintah is the only one able to save herself. In saving herself from an almost certain death, Mintah becomes an enigmatic figure: part ghost, part savior, part pariah, part historian. Mintah’s role already differed from those of the other slaves because she could speak and write English. Further, she knew the First Mate Kelsal’s unsavory past and is able to “name” him, figuratively and literally. It is her knowledge of Kelsal, more than her rebellion, which prompts Kelsal to order her overboard initially. Mintah’s story, both before being thrown overboard and afterwards, form the novel’s core.
Most of the imagery and symbolism used throughout the novel, relate to Mintah’s vision of her world, a world comprised of sea, land, and wood. In simple terms, the sea represents death and despair; land, a lost paradise; and wood, hope and salvation.
Of the 132 slaves thrown overboard, Mintah is the only one able to save herself. In saving herself from an almost certain death, Mintah becomes an enigmatic figure: part ghost, part savior, part pariah, part historian. Mintah’s role already differed from those of the other slaves because she could speak and write English. Further, she knew the First Mate Kelsal’s unsavory past and is able to “name” him, figuratively and literally. It is her knowledge of Kelsal, more than her rebellion, which prompts Kelsal to order her overboard initially. Mintah’s story, both before being thrown overboard and afterwards, form the novel’s core.
Most of the imagery and symbolism used throughout the novel, relate to Mintah’s vision of her world, a world comprised of sea, land, and wood. In simple terms, the sea represents death and despair; land, a lost paradise; and wood, hope and salvation.
May 25, 2013
Translating the atrocity of the Zong into the genre of the novel, D'Aguiar does what fellow writers David Dabydeen and M. Nourbese Philip do not: he breathes vivacity into the dead and narrates the event not as if it were an inaccessible object lost in "The sea is history," as the novel's epigraph from Derek Walcott cites, but rather as if it lingers almost accessibly in the archive of language. While his story should be read as a tale of possibilities and certainly not one of certainties, there's plenty here to support the idea that telling tales is feeding ghosts: employing words is raising a host of phantasms.
Structurally this has important ramifications as well, for as ghosts are so often seen as bad or imperfect copies of things lost, so too do the chapters copy each other, retelling the story again and again with imperfections glaring, lost, brought to light and hidden again. In D'Aguiar's hands, however, this becomes rather drudging, and his choice of themes limits the novel: the interplay between abyssal sea and grained wood is so played out, by the conclusion, that the fire is almost welcome, horrific as that might seem. Elementally, however, it is a healing fire, for it releases the novel's ghosts into the final aspect: the air, where they belong. Not a bad novel, not a good one either, this is certainly one that D'Aguiar needed to write.
Structurally this has important ramifications as well, for as ghosts are so often seen as bad or imperfect copies of things lost, so too do the chapters copy each other, retelling the story again and again with imperfections glaring, lost, brought to light and hidden again. In D'Aguiar's hands, however, this becomes rather drudging, and his choice of themes limits the novel: the interplay between abyssal sea and grained wood is so played out, by the conclusion, that the fire is almost welcome, horrific as that might seem. Elementally, however, it is a healing fire, for it releases the novel's ghosts into the final aspect: the air, where they belong. Not a bad novel, not a good one either, this is certainly one that D'Aguiar needed to write.
February 11, 2021
2.5/5 Stars*
The story was good, it's a grim tale about a slave ship and you just know there isn't much fantasy needed here, if any. People were treated horribly, seen as stock. The story mainly follows Mintah, a girl that's sort of the leader of this group of slaves, they look up to her at least. The story is dark, yet has a tone of hopefulness for the future.
What I did not like quite frankly, was the writing. It was too description heavy for me personally. Even to the point of being nonsensical at times or just way too repetitive. The amount of times the writer talks about the "grain of the wood" is beyond belief here. Might as well call the book "Woodgrain". It took me out of the story, because i'm quite sure that if you were in the situation that she was in, she wouldn't be thinking the way that she was thinking according to the writer, it just made no logical sense to me.
So yeah in summary, a great story that was dragged down by the writing style. It should've been direct and to the point, but it kept dragging in the hopes of sounding poetic, and to me, that failed.
Not a bad book as a whole though.
The story was good, it's a grim tale about a slave ship and you just know there isn't much fantasy needed here, if any. People were treated horribly, seen as stock. The story mainly follows Mintah, a girl that's sort of the leader of this group of slaves, they look up to her at least. The story is dark, yet has a tone of hopefulness for the future.
What I did not like quite frankly, was the writing. It was too description heavy for me personally. Even to the point of being nonsensical at times or just way too repetitive. The amount of times the writer talks about the "grain of the wood" is beyond belief here. Might as well call the book "Woodgrain". It took me out of the story, because i'm quite sure that if you were in the situation that she was in, she wouldn't be thinking the way that she was thinking according to the writer, it just made no logical sense to me.
So yeah in summary, a great story that was dragged down by the writing style. It should've been direct and to the point, but it kept dragging in the hopes of sounding poetic, and to me, that failed.
Not a bad book as a whole though.
November 17, 2024
3.5, gets much stronger in the last part but the writing is really weak for a tone and topic choice that obviously aims for poetic significance. Frustrating because the zong case does deserve careful attention but reading this made me constantly want to skip full pages.
August 24, 2011
I'm at the library right now. I'm considering whether to give this book away. My brain tells me one thing--that I need to get lighter. That I need to slowly start shedding the bounds of material possessions and become lighter if I'm going to survive as a traveler in the coming years. My heart tells me another thing. It tells me that this book has the ability to heal. In this way, my plight is not so dissimilar than the plight of the captain of the Zong.
I would love to leave this book someplace where a truly amazing reader would find this book. Where is that? Could it be a library or a bus stop? The library has a donation bin, so this will have to do.
What do I see in this book on my second reading--everything that I want from a book. A book with grace, lyrical wording, a sensitivity to the difficulties of being human--it also has a sense of humor. This is important when dealing with such a touchy subject like slavery.
Then why am I donating it? If a believe in the transformational power of literature than why am I so eager to throw it overboard as Captain Cunningham does his sick slaves. Perhaps I am just as cruel and just as focused on the materiality of checks in my ledger and profit.
The sea in this book is a symbol for everywhere and nowhere for beginnings and ends--for the unbearable inbetweeness between land. As I read this book, I feel a deep connection with myself as I was when I was 22--and miraculously I materialize again at 29. More than anything, what I want from this book is to leave it someplace only to find it again. In this way, I can rematerialize with my hopes and dreams as they were when I was 22.
I would love to leave this book someplace where a truly amazing reader would find this book. Where is that? Could it be a library or a bus stop? The library has a donation bin, so this will have to do.
What do I see in this book on my second reading--everything that I want from a book. A book with grace, lyrical wording, a sensitivity to the difficulties of being human--it also has a sense of humor. This is important when dealing with such a touchy subject like slavery.
Then why am I donating it? If a believe in the transformational power of literature than why am I so eager to throw it overboard as Captain Cunningham does his sick slaves. Perhaps I am just as cruel and just as focused on the materiality of checks in my ledger and profit.
The sea in this book is a symbol for everywhere and nowhere for beginnings and ends--for the unbearable inbetweeness between land. As I read this book, I feel a deep connection with myself as I was when I was 22--and miraculously I materialize again at 29. More than anything, what I want from this book is to leave it someplace only to find it again. In this way, I can rematerialize with my hopes and dreams as they were when I was 22.
January 7, 2017
This genre of telling real historical events through the novel is one of my absolute favourite ways to learn about the past and this book tells the historically true story of the slave ship the Zong and the decision by the captain to toss 132 sick slaves into the sea to drown because they would fetch more money from the insurance pay out for dead slaves than at the auction block. One slave, Mintah survives being thrown into the sea, she wasn't sick but had been captured from a Christian mission where she had learned English and to read and write and had herself nursed a sick sailor who was second mate on the ship. She called his name and that sealed her fate. But she catches hold of a rope and pulls herself back into the ship and hides in the ship's stores. The story of that journey and her eventual fate is the story of the cruelest trade ever conducted that both created and justified racism. For those who want to better understand the mentality that spawned slavery and to feel what it was like to be chained in the slave ships this book captures the times and its legacy. The prose is strong and poetic, it is lyrical and sways with the sea and the waves and the movement of wood on water. Not easy reading, but if we are to understand racism in our time we need to go to it roots.
May 30, 2023
"He reckoned, going by this last voyage of the Zong, that if the losses of every voyage of a slave ship were counted, for each cup, each spoonful, every ounce of tobacco, an African life had been lost. He could not count but he saw a sea full of Africans. The Zong rose and dipped over their bones, and the sound of the sea was the bones cracking, breaking, splintering."
"The girl that is Mintah, who is me and not me, has nothing but her bare hands to return the gifts carved by her father for her as she walks away from him. Her hand in the air shapes goodbyes. Little, imprecise strokes. Some hardly strokes at all. So long, Father. More a way of holding on to goodbye, if only goodbye were not made of air but of something more substantial, like wood. Father, goodbye."
The language in this novel was beautiful and poetic. I would recommend this for fans of Octavia Butler and I cannot wait to check out this author's poetry.
"The girl that is Mintah, who is me and not me, has nothing but her bare hands to return the gifts carved by her father for her as she walks away from him. Her hand in the air shapes goodbyes. Little, imprecise strokes. Some hardly strokes at all. So long, Father. More a way of holding on to goodbye, if only goodbye were not made of air but of something more substantial, like wood. Father, goodbye."
The language in this novel was beautiful and poetic. I would recommend this for fans of Octavia Butler and I cannot wait to check out this author's poetry.
September 2, 2025
an exquisitely harrowing feat of literature. i‘ve never annotated a novel so much before; D’Aguiar’s graceful prose simply demands reverence.
inspired by a true story in which 130 Africans were thrown overboard a slave ship, Feeding the Ghosts is poignantly pertinent in its determined retelling of the past - look no further than the recently aired video of a cartoon Columbus professing that “slavery is no big deal” on the Republican education channel ‘PragerU’.
D’Aguiar finds impossibly beautiful ways of articulating humanity’s darkest depths. as a man, his elucidation of uniquely feminine physical trauma is astounding; “My body belongs to everyone but me. I move in it like a thief.” step up, boys.
i’ll leave as i love to, with one more gem from this poem of a novel:
“To see the morning minted in silver coins on the sea.”
inspired by a true story in which 130 Africans were thrown overboard a slave ship, Feeding the Ghosts is poignantly pertinent in its determined retelling of the past - look no further than the recently aired video of a cartoon Columbus professing that “slavery is no big deal” on the Republican education channel ‘PragerU’.
D’Aguiar finds impossibly beautiful ways of articulating humanity’s darkest depths. as a man, his elucidation of uniquely feminine physical trauma is astounding; “My body belongs to everyone but me. I move in it like a thief.” step up, boys.
i’ll leave as i love to, with one more gem from this poem of a novel:
“To see the morning minted in silver coins on the sea.”
October 13, 2013
D'aguiar's lyrical writing is both breath-taking and heart-breaking, and I really enjoyed the layered story-telling. The flow of the narrative was a little jarring because of the different parts, but overall, I really liked this book.
June 28, 2011
A tragic, beautifully written story.
March 2, 2012
I liked it. I really liked it. The star I took from it was because it was a bit too repetitive towards the end for it's own good. Really, it was a hard book to read, but totally worth it.
December 13, 2021
Another college assignment that, while absolutely brutal, was completely worth it. Masterfully written, this is a really interesting framing of this historical event, although it should've come with a thousand trigger warnings because it was incredibly hard to read. I would suggest reading this alongside Sadiya Hartman's Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America, to frame this narrative on the discussion of black suffering as a spectacle. This one, in my opinion, toes the line a lot, and goes over a bit. We had some interesting discussions on that topic; but I'll let you decide what you think about it.
Read
March 24, 2022my review is simply going to be the final excerpt from the book because I want all of my lovely followers to read it:
"The Zong is on the high seas. Men, women and children are thrown overboard by the captain and his crew. One of them is me. One of them is you. One of them is doing the throwing, the other is being thrown. I'm not sure who is who, you or I. There is no fear, nor shame in this place of information. There is only the fact of the Zong and its unending voyage and those deaths that cannot be undone. Where death has begun but remains unfinished because it recurs. Where there is only the record of the sea. Those spirits are fled into wood. Those ghosts feed on the story of themselves. The past is laid to rest when it is told."
"The Zong is on the high seas. Men, women and children are thrown overboard by the captain and his crew. One of them is me. One of them is you. One of them is doing the throwing, the other is being thrown. I'm not sure who is who, you or I. There is no fear, nor shame in this place of information. There is only the fact of the Zong and its unending voyage and those deaths that cannot be undone. Where death has begun but remains unfinished because it recurs. Where there is only the record of the sea. Those spirits are fled into wood. Those ghosts feed on the story of themselves. The past is laid to rest when it is told."
November 12, 2023
Over the noise of the wind and the rain and the sea came the cries from below.
August 7, 2023
If you are going into it without any historical context, just beware of the graphic depictions in the novel.This is about the real horrors of even any leftover humanity gone insane. Giving it 3.5 stars, only because it gets repetitive after every few pages although the illustrations of the flaws of the English law, and what the English defined as "stock" would definitely shock your dormant goosebumps.
August 30, 2025
2.5 I wanted so badly to love this book - because of my enduring historical obsession with Dido Elizabeth Belle, the Zong slaveship case has always stuck with me. It's horrifying and fascinating in what is certain, and what is unknown, and I was intriguied how D'Aguiar would fill in those gaps, how he would construct a story and 'feed his ghosts.' And he is very much entitled to feed those ghosts however he wishes - the premise of his novel (that there was a survivor of the massacre) is not true, so he's not seeking to write something historically accurate.
But I just didn't connect with this story. The writing is elequont, but very heavy on metaphor (lots of linking back to wood and water, solidity and fluidity of self) which prevented me from getting a grip on the events of the story. I had to go back and reread passages to figure out what was happening. Mintah is an interesting character, as are Kelsal and Simon, but I didn't feel like I was understanding them because of how fluid the storyline is. I also have a historical issue with the portrayal of Lord Mansfield, a complex man who wasn't really given any complexity in this story - his own conflicts, presiding over slave cases which contest the humanity of black people while raising a young black woman who he evidently cared for greatly is such an interesting element of the history to delve into, but wasn't touched on at all.
Stories like that of the Zong absolutely need to be told. I just didn't feel that this one resonated with me because of that heavy reliance on metaphor and a lack of structure/solidity.
But I just didn't connect with this story. The writing is elequont, but very heavy on metaphor (lots of linking back to wood and water, solidity and fluidity of self) which prevented me from getting a grip on the events of the story. I had to go back and reread passages to figure out what was happening. Mintah is an interesting character, as are Kelsal and Simon, but I didn't feel like I was understanding them because of how fluid the storyline is. I also have a historical issue with the portrayal of Lord Mansfield, a complex man who wasn't really given any complexity in this story - his own conflicts, presiding over slave cases which contest the humanity of black people while raising a young black woman who he evidently cared for greatly is such an interesting element of the history to delve into, but wasn't touched on at all.
Stories like that of the Zong absolutely need to be told. I just didn't feel that this one resonated with me because of that heavy reliance on metaphor and a lack of structure/solidity.
November 6, 2017
The story was so well written. It's one of those that when you stop reading, you can't help but continue to think about it and thinking when would you be able to pick it up again. It follows the story of African slaves, who are aboard a boat named 'Zong.' The Captain and his sailors come to the conclusion that due to the diseases that have spread among the African slaves and to their comrades, they must come with a solution to protect their cargo and supplies. Which brings them to the decision of throwing the "sick" African slaves into the sea. They made the mistake of throwing a woman named Mintah, who was not sick, but who defied and disrespected the First Mate Kelsal, she survived and tried to form a riot within the slaves. She met a man named Simon who helped her hide and who would eventually change her life. This story is told in three parts. Part One: when she gets thrown into to the sea. Part Two: when Captain Cunningham and his First Mate, Second Mate, Cook and the boatswain are in a trial hearing for throwing 131 humans into the sea. Part Three: Mintah's aftermath.
I would really recommend this book. It's a very fast paced and easy to read book!
I would really recommend this book. It's a very fast paced and easy to read book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2012
Devastating. There were times when the imagery was so gruesome that I had to put it down. Nevertheless, I was really moved by the historiographic/fictionalized account it gives of the Zong disaster (in which 134 slaves were drowned, supposedly for being deathly sick and contagious, at sea, while en route from Africa to America). Mintah is such a bad-ass (for most of the novel), and the book emphasizes that heroism and hope really do persist, even when survival is tested to its absolute limits.
However, there were two aspects of the book that I remain ambivalent about: a lot of the tropes it introduces (the importance of names, the land/sea dichotomy, etc.) feel really heavy handed and unsubtle by the end of it. Also, I really can't decide how I feel about the treatment of Mintah's character; she almost gets the last word, but in a somewhat redundant and dissatisfying way.
However, there were two aspects of the book that I remain ambivalent about: a lot of the tropes it introduces (the importance of names, the land/sea dichotomy, etc.) feel really heavy handed and unsubtle by the end of it. Also, I really can't decide how I feel about the treatment of Mintah's character; she almost gets the last word, but in a somewhat redundant and dissatisfying way.
December 9, 2017
Low 3. The emotive and inspirational storyline centred on the horrors of the transatlantic trade held so much promise for this novel to attain greater prominence. The author's lyrical prose does, for the most part, do the material justice, but can overcomplicate. This aspect, together with the unnecessary intervention of a second narrator's philosophical interpretation of the events in the second half of the novel, loses the momentum and intensity which d'Aguiar had earlier achieved. The courage of the young heroine, Mintah, in surviving and rebelling against the outrages inflicted on the slave 'livestock' aboard the slaver 'Zong' in 1781, when Captain Cunningham decided to cast 132 diseased slaves overboard to salvage his profit-line from the insurance, merited better treatment.
August 21, 2012
An equally brutal and lyrical fictionalised depiction of the events which took place on the slave ship, Zong, in 1783 as the Captain took the inhumanely harsh decision to throw over 130 of his "stock" overboard in order to make more profit by claiming for his loss through his investor's insurers.
A emotionally challenging read which becomes ever more poetic in its portrayal of the sea, the land, the body and enforced captivity. At times the recounting of events becomes a little repetitive, but ultimately this only adds to the haunting tone.
As the narrative itself says "The past is laid to rest when it is told", and even if only imagined D'Aguiar's beautiful novel reclaims a part of history which ought never to be forgotten.
A emotionally challenging read which becomes ever more poetic in its portrayal of the sea, the land, the body and enforced captivity. At times the recounting of events becomes a little repetitive, but ultimately this only adds to the haunting tone.
As the narrative itself says "The past is laid to rest when it is told", and even if only imagined D'Aguiar's beautiful novel reclaims a part of history which ought never to be forgotten.
December 8, 2022
4.5
The language with which the prologue and first chapter was written was very strong. The imageries and plot was quite unsettling and really hits you emotionally. I had to take a break after these two sections to brace myself for the ones after. The ones after did not impact me the same way, some parts felt long as if I was de-sensitised from the brutality. I was lost in some parts. But I did enjoy the final chapters. A part of me hoped for more about the crew (especially Simon), it was sad to see the characters grow old.
The language with which the prologue and first chapter was written was very strong. The imageries and plot was quite unsettling and really hits you emotionally. I had to take a break after these two sections to brace myself for the ones after. The ones after did not impact me the same way, some parts felt long as if I was de-sensitised from the brutality. I was lost in some parts. But I did enjoy the final chapters. A part of me hoped for more about the crew (especially Simon), it was sad to see the characters grow old.
November 7, 2018
Στο τέλος του βιβλίου μία γιαγιά χωρίς εγγόνια, κρυμμένη στο μικρό της σπίτι μέσα σε έναν ατελείωτο κήπο με δέντρα· της κάνουν παρέα 131 μικρά ξύλινα αγάλματα, τα παιδιά της, που η ίδια γέννησε μέσα από τα χέρια της· συχνά φωνάζει τα παιδιά από τα γύρω σπίτια, τα δελεάζει με ένα κεκάκι καρύδας, για να της βγάλουν τις αγκίδες που παιδεύουν τα γερασμένα της χέρια· τα μάτια της πια δεν βλέπουν καλά, ανάβει μία λάμπα κι ο ξύλινος κόσμος που δημιούργησε φωτίζεται μπροστά της.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2019
There are times when this book touches greatness. Usually it descends quickly from there to a frustrating brand of overwritten navel-gazing.
That's a shame because when it's good, it's really bloody good.
That's a shame because when it's good, it's really bloody good.
July 31, 2007
I don't know; it was ok, but stupid at times. It's a story about a slave ship crossing the Atlantic.
June 3, 2011
Hard to forget.
June 4, 2008
Amazing fictional account based on a true story - a slave woman who fought back against her captors while at sea....Haunting novel.
September 28, 2010
a depiction of the murderous 1781 Zong voyage. the beginning was unbelievable, but the middle section bogged down a bit. Ultimately a harrowing read, but worth it.
July 24, 2015
More like 2.5.
February 22, 2017
Tok pusten fra meg.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews