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The Sacrifice: A Profound Novel of Racial Violence, Community Trauma, and the Power of Secrets
New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates returns with an incendiary novel that illuminates the tragic impact of sexual violence, racism, brutality, and power on innocent lives and probes the persistence of stereotypes, the nature of revenge, the complexities of truth, and our insatiable hunger for sensationalism.
When a fourteen-year-old girl is the alleged victim of a terrible act of racial violence, the incident shocks and galvanizes her community, exacerbating the racial tension that has been simmering in this New Jersey town for decades. In this magisterial work of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates explores the uneasy fault lines in a racially troubled society. In such a tense, charged atmosphere, Oates reveals that there must always be a sacrifice—of innocence, truth, trust, and, ultimately, of lives. Unfolding in a succession of multiracial voices, in a community transfixed by this alleged crime and the spectacle unfolding around it, this profound novel exposes what—and who—the “sacrifice” actually is, and what consequences these kind of events hold for us all.
Working at the height of her powers, Oates offers a sympathetic portrait of the young girl and her mother, and challenges our expectations and beliefs about our society, our biases, and ourselves. As the chorus of its voices—from the police to the media to the victim and her family—reaches a crescendo, The Sacrifice offers a shocking new understanding of power and oppression, innocence and guilt, truth and sensationalism, justice and retribution.
A chilling exploration of complex social, political, and moral themes—the enduring trauma of the past, modern racial and class tensions, the power of secrets, and the primal decisions we all make to protect those we love—The Sacrifice is a major work of fiction from one of our most revered literary masters.
When a fourteen-year-old girl is the alleged victim of a terrible act of racial violence, the incident shocks and galvanizes her community, exacerbating the racial tension that has been simmering in this New Jersey town for decades. In this magisterial work of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates explores the uneasy fault lines in a racially troubled society. In such a tense, charged atmosphere, Oates reveals that there must always be a sacrifice—of innocence, truth, trust, and, ultimately, of lives. Unfolding in a succession of multiracial voices, in a community transfixed by this alleged crime and the spectacle unfolding around it, this profound novel exposes what—and who—the “sacrifice” actually is, and what consequences these kind of events hold for us all.
Working at the height of her powers, Oates offers a sympathetic portrait of the young girl and her mother, and challenges our expectations and beliefs about our society, our biases, and ourselves. As the chorus of its voices—from the police to the media to the victim and her family—reaches a crescendo, The Sacrifice offers a shocking new understanding of power and oppression, innocence and guilt, truth and sensationalism, justice and retribution.
A chilling exploration of complex social, political, and moral themes—the enduring trauma of the past, modern racial and class tensions, the power of secrets, and the primal decisions we all make to protect those we love—The Sacrifice is a major work of fiction from one of our most revered literary masters.
325 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
126 people are currently reading
2125 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
854 books9,626 followersJoyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 320 reviews
February 11, 2015
If you are of a certain age you remember the case of Tawana Brawley, a fourteen year-old black girl in Wappington Falls, NY, in 1987, who was found unconscious in a trash bag covered with feces and with racial slurs written upside-down on her abdomen. Tawana had been abducted, abused, and raped by six white policemen—or so she claimed. The case enflamed racial tensions that exploded when Reverend Al Sharpton and two black attorney-activists weighed in on Tawana’s side. In the end the Grand Jury, finding no evidence of rape or other mistreatment, concluded that Tawana had staged the incident with her mother’s help to avoid punishment by her violent stepfather for staying overnight with a boyfriend. The district attorney won a suit for defamation against Sharpton and the two lawyers, receiving sizable awards. Eventually racial tensions eased back a bit—until the next cause célèbre. As one might predict, some of Twana’s advocates argued that even if the abuse didn’t happen, it could have happened—so it was a legitimate matter for public attention. Go figure!
That is a long introduction to Joyce Carol Oates’s 2015 novel The Sacrifice, a novel of historical fiction retelling the Tawana Brawley story. It begins with Ednetta Frye looking everywhere for her fifteen-year old daughter, Sybilla, who has been missing for several days. Ednetta’s common law husband, Anis Schutte, taken to violent tempers, served (not enough) time for beating his first wife to death. Sybilla is eventually found in the basement of an abandoned fish factory (something fishy here?) hogtied (can you hogtie yourself?), covered with feces and with racial slurs written upside down on her abdomen. She claims that several white men, one a blonde wearing a badge, had abducted, beaten, and raped her. At the hospital Mother Ednetta strangely prevents the police from gathering evidence and from interviewing Sybilla. But there is no physical evidence of rape, and Sybilla’s injuries don’t seem sufficient to support her story. Something is not right!
That Oates—the poster-author for alienation, family dysfunction, and lost children—would be interested in the Brawley episode is no surprise. But that she used her remarkable talents to retell the tale is surprising, leading one to ask, “What does Oates bring to the Brawley story that wasn’t already there and already well known?”
The answer is that she brings a deep look into the intensity of racial distrust that surrounded the case, and an appreciation of the collateral damage that is the necessary consequence of such a hoax—not to mention that she writes so well! For example, in one of the most searing chapters we listen to stepfather Annis Schutte’s thoughts as he is stopped by a cop for DWB (Driving while Black). His intense anger and his fear are beautifully described—the fear that he will be arrested or shot without reason, and the anger at his humiliation. This is something Oates brings out that would be hard to find elsewhere. We also see the despair in Ines Iglesias, a female police officer who really wants to help Sybilla and get to the bottom of the story, when she is stonewalled by the black code of silence. The Hispanic Ines knows first hand the distrust that the poor have for the police, and identifies with Sybilla’s pain. She sorely wants to bring the brutes to justice, but is stymied by the Fryes and undermined by her white bosses.
The arrival of the Reverend Marus Mudrick (a Dickensian name) moves the story from local disinterest (not even a newspaper article) to national hysteria as he and his lawyer-brother Byron whip up the frenzy of both the black and liberal white communities. Marus’s reputation as a rabble-rousing attention-seeker is widely known by everyone but, it seems, the Fryes, who are seduced by his oily manipulations into making their story into an over-the-top soap opera and, ultimately, covering them in eternal shame. Oates is marvelous in her description of the Reverend’s agenda and his behavior, bringing the bile into our gullets as she captures the viciously unctuous man of God.
So yes, it is a tale already told. But Oates has given it life. For my taste, it is among the very best of Joyce Carol Oates. An easy five stars.
That is a long introduction to Joyce Carol Oates’s 2015 novel The Sacrifice, a novel of historical fiction retelling the Tawana Brawley story. It begins with Ednetta Frye looking everywhere for her fifteen-year old daughter, Sybilla, who has been missing for several days. Ednetta’s common law husband, Anis Schutte, taken to violent tempers, served (not enough) time for beating his first wife to death. Sybilla is eventually found in the basement of an abandoned fish factory (something fishy here?) hogtied (can you hogtie yourself?), covered with feces and with racial slurs written upside down on her abdomen. She claims that several white men, one a blonde wearing a badge, had abducted, beaten, and raped her. At the hospital Mother Ednetta strangely prevents the police from gathering evidence and from interviewing Sybilla. But there is no physical evidence of rape, and Sybilla’s injuries don’t seem sufficient to support her story. Something is not right!
That Oates—the poster-author for alienation, family dysfunction, and lost children—would be interested in the Brawley episode is no surprise. But that she used her remarkable talents to retell the tale is surprising, leading one to ask, “What does Oates bring to the Brawley story that wasn’t already there and already well known?”
The answer is that she brings a deep look into the intensity of racial distrust that surrounded the case, and an appreciation of the collateral damage that is the necessary consequence of such a hoax—not to mention that she writes so well! For example, in one of the most searing chapters we listen to stepfather Annis Schutte’s thoughts as he is stopped by a cop for DWB (Driving while Black). His intense anger and his fear are beautifully described—the fear that he will be arrested or shot without reason, and the anger at his humiliation. This is something Oates brings out that would be hard to find elsewhere. We also see the despair in Ines Iglesias, a female police officer who really wants to help Sybilla and get to the bottom of the story, when she is stonewalled by the black code of silence. The Hispanic Ines knows first hand the distrust that the poor have for the police, and identifies with Sybilla’s pain. She sorely wants to bring the brutes to justice, but is stymied by the Fryes and undermined by her white bosses.
The arrival of the Reverend Marus Mudrick (a Dickensian name) moves the story from local disinterest (not even a newspaper article) to national hysteria as he and his lawyer-brother Byron whip up the frenzy of both the black and liberal white communities. Marus’s reputation as a rabble-rousing attention-seeker is widely known by everyone but, it seems, the Fryes, who are seduced by his oily manipulations into making their story into an over-the-top soap opera and, ultimately, covering them in eternal shame. Oates is marvelous in her description of the Reverend’s agenda and his behavior, bringing the bile into our gullets as she captures the viciously unctuous man of God.
So yes, it is a tale already told. But Oates has given it life. For my taste, it is among the very best of Joyce Carol Oates. An easy five stars.
October 10, 2020
کتابی در مورد نژادپرستی
August 8, 2020
Excellent read! It starts out slow and builds momentum. The last five chapters go fast with all the action involved. Characters are well developed and multidimensional. Great job, yet again Oates.
June 11, 2018
This was hard to read because it is based on the true story of Tawana Brawley which is emotionally brutal and disturbing, but also because there was no sense of closure or explanation for many of the characters and their situations. So this was both a win and a fail for me. I feel like Oates captured a lot in describing the situation, but all of these characters we were introduced to just seemed....superficial.
January 27, 2015
Given the recent much-publicized protests in America about a series of unjustified killings of black individuals at the hands of white policemen, the subject of The Sacrifice couldn’t appear any more prescient. Yet, what Oates shows in her novel is that fear, ignorance and misunderstanding is a constant presence, and is the legacy of racial tension in American society carried throughout the years and multiple generations. The media highlights particular examples of the issue regularly, and this sparks movements of public outcry and protest seeking to gain justice and correct societal imbalances. The Sacrifice traces the way incidents like this transition from the particular to the emblematic; how people at the centre of the incident are turned from individuals into symbols and are made to surrender their unique complexities as human beings; and how facts can be obfuscated for the sake of a “bigger meaning” or to progress personal agendas. Oates has created a gripping, complex story largely inspired by the case of Tawana Brawley, a black teenage girl who was found by a grand jury to have falsely accused six white men of raping her. The Sacrifice memorializes the conflicts, both internal and external, of individuals whose subjective reality is subsumed by their public identity within a movement of social change.
Read my full review on Bearing Witness review of The Sacrifice by Joyce Carol Oates
Read my full review on Bearing Witness review of The Sacrifice by Joyce Carol Oates
December 5, 2025
This is a retelling of the Tawana Brawley story which is available online. I wasn’t aware of the original story and I’m glad I didn’t read it before I read the novel. I think the novel works better if the outcome isn’t known.
In brief, a 15 year old black girl accuses 5 white policemen of abducting her and holding her captive for several days while raping and torturing her. She is found in an abandoned factory, her clothes torn to shreds, with evident signs of having been beaten and her body is inscribed with racial slurs.
Racial tensions in the neighborhood are high and Sybilla’s story inflames the atmosphere to boiling point.
The story is told through several different perspectives: her mother, her stepfather, the person who found her and seemingly saved her life, the Hispanic female officer assigned to the case just because she isn’t white, the African American community leaders who manipulate her to get the maximum traction out of her story in a manner that serves their political agendas, and quite a number of additional characters who become enmeshed in her story.
Other than the Hispanic female officer and a young rookie officer just beginning his career, both actually sacrificed in one manner or another, not even one of the characters taking center stage in this story comes through as a sacrificial lamb, not even the 15 year old child. It’s difficult not to feel empathy for a 15 year old visibly suffering from a violent attack and yet JCO manages it.
I find that the main characters lack complexity, whereas some of the lesser characters are much more developed. The child, the stepfather, the mother, the political activists seem to all have been assigned a role to play from the outset and they play it to perfection never wavering from their assigned lines.
Although very well written, as are all of her novels that I have read, this isn’t one of my favorite JCO novels.
In brief, a 15 year old black girl accuses 5 white policemen of abducting her and holding her captive for several days while raping and torturing her. She is found in an abandoned factory, her clothes torn to shreds, with evident signs of having been beaten and her body is inscribed with racial slurs.
Racial tensions in the neighborhood are high and Sybilla’s story inflames the atmosphere to boiling point.
The story is told through several different perspectives: her mother, her stepfather, the person who found her and seemingly saved her life, the Hispanic female officer assigned to the case just because she isn’t white, the African American community leaders who manipulate her to get the maximum traction out of her story in a manner that serves their political agendas, and quite a number of additional characters who become enmeshed in her story.
Other than the Hispanic female officer and a young rookie officer just beginning his career, both actually sacrificed in one manner or another, not even one of the characters taking center stage in this story comes through as a sacrificial lamb, not even the 15 year old child. It’s difficult not to feel empathy for a 15 year old visibly suffering from a violent attack and yet JCO manages it.
I find that the main characters lack complexity, whereas some of the lesser characters are much more developed. The child, the stepfather, the mother, the political activists seem to all have been assigned a role to play from the outset and they play it to perfection never wavering from their assigned lines.
Although very well written, as are all of her novels that I have read, this isn’t one of my favorite JCO novels.
January 22, 2016
I didn't like Carol Oates portrayal of the black characters.
March 20, 2015
There’s no question that Detective Inez Iglesias is a sacrifice in The Sacrifice. But she’s just one of many sacrifices.
Joyce Carol Oates is easy to read. By “easy,” I’m not suggesting that she’s facile or primitive, but rather that her prose flows like warm butter – and that your eyes skate right over the slice of whatever she’s written that prose on.
I don’t believe for an instant that a prose artist consciously mingles vowels and consonants with a poet’s exactitude, but little things like vocabulary, syntax and punctuation – i. e., some of the pure mechanics of writing – are very much the prose artist’s stock-in-trade, and Joyce Carol Oates handles them with absolute aplomb.
At the same time, she proves herself to be a mistress of dialogue – and most of it (in this particular work) in an urban African-American dialect. This may well render the work less easy for white boys like me to read. But as I live and work just a few miles from the fictional New Jersey town in which most of this story takes place, I found it both justified and 100% believable – even more believable (if memory serves) than I once found the dialect in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.
And what about Professor Oates’s character development? In a word, flawless – and at times, unmerciful.
If I have any criticism at all, it’s a piddling one: “gat-toothed smile,” which I found on pp. 2, 6, 53, 66 and 67 – but in no dictionary. If it’s a neologism, so be it. But maybe it’s just a, uh, gat in my knowledge of urban slang.
RRB
03/19/15
Brooklyn, NY
Joyce Carol Oates is easy to read. By “easy,” I’m not suggesting that she’s facile or primitive, but rather that her prose flows like warm butter – and that your eyes skate right over the slice of whatever she’s written that prose on.
I don’t believe for an instant that a prose artist consciously mingles vowels and consonants with a poet’s exactitude, but little things like vocabulary, syntax and punctuation – i. e., some of the pure mechanics of writing – are very much the prose artist’s stock-in-trade, and Joyce Carol Oates handles them with absolute aplomb.
At the same time, she proves herself to be a mistress of dialogue – and most of it (in this particular work) in an urban African-American dialect. This may well render the work less easy for white boys like me to read. But as I live and work just a few miles from the fictional New Jersey town in which most of this story takes place, I found it both justified and 100% believable – even more believable (if memory serves) than I once found the dialect in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.
And what about Professor Oates’s character development? In a word, flawless – and at times, unmerciful.
If I have any criticism at all, it’s a piddling one: “gat-toothed smile,” which I found on pp. 2, 6, 53, 66 and 67 – but in no dictionary. If it’s a neologism, so be it. But maybe it’s just a, uh, gat in my knowledge of urban slang.
RRB
03/19/15
Brooklyn, NY
January 30, 2025
Another very powerful novel from Oates dealing with "the impact of sexual violence, racism, brutality, and power on innocent lives and probing the persistence of stereotypes, the nature of revenge, the complexities of truth, and our insatiable hunger for sensationalism." This quote is from the bookflap from this novel that is a fictionalized account of the Tawana Brawley rape hoax. Brawley was an African American woman from New York who gained notoriety in November 1987 at age 15 when she falsely accused four white men of kidnapping and raping her over a four-day period. Al Sharpton helped in bringing the case to national prominence.
JCO tells this story of a 14-year-old girl, Sybilla Frye, who is found moaning in the basement of a closed factory in Pascayne, New Jersey. Sybilla had been beaten, tied up, and dog feces had been smeared on her face and hair. There were also racial epithets written in marker on her body. She claimed that she had been beaten by a group of white cops but she refused a rape evaluation at the local hospital. She and her mother just wanted the incident to be forgotten but news of it got out and before long a noted African-American Reverend, Marus Mudrick gets involved in the case and uses it as a cause against the white police and discrimination against the black society in New Jersey. Pascayne had been the site of race riots in 1967 and this incident is ready to spur more unrest 20 years later. So what is the truth and will it be brought to the surface?
I have read several of Oates' novels and short story collections and I'm always amazed at her ability to draw you into the heart of societal and family dysfunction. In this novel she delves deeply into the nature of racism and how distrust can affect both family and society as a whole. She explores "complex social, political, and moral themes—the enduring trauma of the past, modern racial and class tensions, the power of secrets, and the decisions we all make to protect those we love." In the afterword to this novel, Oates states that this novel is strongly linked to her novel them where she researched the Detroit riot of 1967. I recently read them and would highly recommend it along with anything else written by Oates.
JCO tells this story of a 14-year-old girl, Sybilla Frye, who is found moaning in the basement of a closed factory in Pascayne, New Jersey. Sybilla had been beaten, tied up, and dog feces had been smeared on her face and hair. There were also racial epithets written in marker on her body. She claimed that she had been beaten by a group of white cops but she refused a rape evaluation at the local hospital. She and her mother just wanted the incident to be forgotten but news of it got out and before long a noted African-American Reverend, Marus Mudrick gets involved in the case and uses it as a cause against the white police and discrimination against the black society in New Jersey. Pascayne had been the site of race riots in 1967 and this incident is ready to spur more unrest 20 years later. So what is the truth and will it be brought to the surface?
I have read several of Oates' novels and short story collections and I'm always amazed at her ability to draw you into the heart of societal and family dysfunction. In this novel she delves deeply into the nature of racism and how distrust can affect both family and society as a whole. She explores "complex social, political, and moral themes—the enduring trauma of the past, modern racial and class tensions, the power of secrets, and the decisions we all make to protect those we love." In the afterword to this novel, Oates states that this novel is strongly linked to her novel them where she researched the Detroit riot of 1967. I recently read them and would highly recommend it along with anything else written by Oates.
October 15, 2021
Literacko nie powala, kreatywność żadna, a i wartość uniwersalna znikoma. Nie polecam.
Rozpisanie poniżej ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Rok 1987. Czarnoskóra kobieta w średnim wieku przepytuje całe miasteczko, czy ktokolwiek widział jej 14-letnią córkę, Sybillę, która od 3 dni nie wróciła do domu.
Dalej: związana, pobita 14-letnia czarnoskóra dziewczyna zostaje znaleziona w piwnicy opuszczonej fabryki. Pozostawiona na śmierć. Z wypisanym na brzuchu, fekaliami, do góry nogami, rasistowskim napisem. Wszystko wskazuje nie tylko na brutalne pobicie, ale także na gwałt. O podłożu rasistowskim. Dziewczyna jest w szoku, odmawia przyjęcia badań w szpitalu, odmawia współpracy z policją. Jedyne, o czym informuje policję to to, że została uprowadzona, zgwałcona i pobita przez pięciu białych mężczyzn, z których jeden miał odznakę policyjną.
Do głosu zaczynają dochodzić kolejni bohaterowie: policjantka rasy nie-białej, którą zaangażowano na prośbę matki rzekomej ofiary w sprawę, ojczym Sybilii (który, jak się od niego dowiadujemy, pobił na śmierć swoją pierwszą żonę), jakiś randomowy młody biały policjant, który popełnia samobójstwo. Oates wprowadza coraz to nowe perspektywy, jednak przez pół książki w kółko kręcąc się wokół tego samego - związana, pobita, 14-letnia czarna dziewczyna pozostawiona na śmierć przez białych policjantów. W kółko. Dosłownie.
Gdy prosiłam już w myślach, by coś tu się w końcu z fabułą ruszyło, jak na zawołanie, do akcji wkracza charyzmatyczny czarnoskóry pastor, który ze sprawy Sybilli postanawia zrobić symbol walki o sprawiedliwość Czarnej Ludności, podstawę ruchu obywatelskiego, twarz kampanii politycznej. Wykorzystać. Nie ważne za jaką cenę, nie ważne z iloma dopracowanymi "prawdami", nie ważne, w jaki sposób - byle mówiono, byle pisano, byle było głośno. Brzmi karykaturalnie? No to później mamy jeszcze Czarnego Księcia, Krucjatę Sprawiedliwości, islam i bladolicych Wrogów.
"Ofiara" obrazuje mechanizmy rządzące społeczeństwem amerykańskim, wielowymiarową brutalność, manipulowanie opinią publiczną, niejednoznaczność wskazania "ofiary", posługiwanie się kłamstwem w imię wyższych celów. Jednak nie mogę pozbyć się wrażenia, że książka ta podtrzymuje rasistowskie stereotypy, co więcej - trochę podkopując siłę i zasadność oddolnych ruchów antyrasistowskich, robiąc tym samym krzywdę wszystkim ofiarom wykorzystywania seksualnego. W świecie, w którym na porządku dziennym jest kwestionowanie podobnych zarzutów.
Do tego słabe panowanie nad tekstem, bezładna konstrukcja, przeciążenie perspektywami przy jednoczesnym braku zgłębienia tych najważniejszych, nierówne tempo narracji, płascy bohaterowie (szczególnie niesympatyczni Afroamerykanie) - to wszystko złożyło się na dość marną ocenę i spore rozczarowanie pisarstwem Oates. Literacko nie powala, kreatywność żadna (patrz niżej), a i wartość uniwersalna znikoma.
I jeśli cała fabuła wydaje się Wam dość kontrowersyjna (plus to, że autorką jest biała kobieta) to spieszę donieść, że powieść (mocno!) inspirowana jest autentyczną historią niejakiej Tawany Brawley - ale nie napiszę o tej sprawie nic, bo - rzecz jasna - jest ona sama w sobie spojlerem + podstawą kontrowersyjności, o której piszę. No mnie ten wybór jakoś gryzie, nie mniej niż realizacja tego retellingu. Co więcej, autorka poza wspomnieniem jednego materiału dotyczącego Brawley wśród innych 'wartych uwagi', nie wymienia tej sprawy jako swojej inspiracji w posłowiu. Ups. Nieładnie.
Rozpisanie poniżej ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Rok 1987. Czarnoskóra kobieta w średnim wieku przepytuje całe miasteczko, czy ktokolwiek widział jej 14-letnią córkę, Sybillę, która od 3 dni nie wróciła do domu.
Dalej: związana, pobita 14-letnia czarnoskóra dziewczyna zostaje znaleziona w piwnicy opuszczonej fabryki. Pozostawiona na śmierć. Z wypisanym na brzuchu, fekaliami, do góry nogami, rasistowskim napisem. Wszystko wskazuje nie tylko na brutalne pobicie, ale także na gwałt. O podłożu rasistowskim. Dziewczyna jest w szoku, odmawia przyjęcia badań w szpitalu, odmawia współpracy z policją. Jedyne, o czym informuje policję to to, że została uprowadzona, zgwałcona i pobita przez pięciu białych mężczyzn, z których jeden miał odznakę policyjną.
Do głosu zaczynają dochodzić kolejni bohaterowie: policjantka rasy nie-białej, którą zaangażowano na prośbę matki rzekomej ofiary w sprawę, ojczym Sybilii (który, jak się od niego dowiadujemy, pobił na śmierć swoją pierwszą żonę), jakiś randomowy młody biały policjant, który popełnia samobójstwo. Oates wprowadza coraz to nowe perspektywy, jednak przez pół książki w kółko kręcąc się wokół tego samego - związana, pobita, 14-letnia czarna dziewczyna pozostawiona na śmierć przez białych policjantów. W kółko. Dosłownie.
Gdy prosiłam już w myślach, by coś tu się w końcu z fabułą ruszyło, jak na zawołanie, do akcji wkracza charyzmatyczny czarnoskóry pastor, który ze sprawy Sybilli postanawia zrobić symbol walki o sprawiedliwość Czarnej Ludności, podstawę ruchu obywatelskiego, twarz kampanii politycznej. Wykorzystać. Nie ważne za jaką cenę, nie ważne z iloma dopracowanymi "prawdami", nie ważne, w jaki sposób - byle mówiono, byle pisano, byle było głośno. Brzmi karykaturalnie? No to później mamy jeszcze Czarnego Księcia, Krucjatę Sprawiedliwości, islam i bladolicych Wrogów.
"Ofiara" obrazuje mechanizmy rządzące społeczeństwem amerykańskim, wielowymiarową brutalność, manipulowanie opinią publiczną, niejednoznaczność wskazania "ofiary", posługiwanie się kłamstwem w imię wyższych celów. Jednak nie mogę pozbyć się wrażenia, że książka ta podtrzymuje rasistowskie stereotypy, co więcej - trochę podkopując siłę i zasadność oddolnych ruchów antyrasistowskich, robiąc tym samym krzywdę wszystkim ofiarom wykorzystywania seksualnego. W świecie, w którym na porządku dziennym jest kwestionowanie podobnych zarzutów.
Do tego słabe panowanie nad tekstem, bezładna konstrukcja, przeciążenie perspektywami przy jednoczesnym braku zgłębienia tych najważniejszych, nierówne tempo narracji, płascy bohaterowie (szczególnie niesympatyczni Afroamerykanie) - to wszystko złożyło się na dość marną ocenę i spore rozczarowanie pisarstwem Oates. Literacko nie powala, kreatywność żadna (patrz niżej), a i wartość uniwersalna znikoma.
I jeśli cała fabuła wydaje się Wam dość kontrowersyjna (plus to, że autorką jest biała kobieta) to spieszę donieść, że powieść (mocno!) inspirowana jest autentyczną historią niejakiej Tawany Brawley - ale nie napiszę o tej sprawie nic, bo - rzecz jasna - jest ona sama w sobie spojlerem + podstawą kontrowersyjności, o której piszę. No mnie ten wybór jakoś gryzie, nie mniej niż realizacja tego retellingu. Co więcej, autorka poza wspomnieniem jednego materiału dotyczącego Brawley wśród innych 'wartych uwagi', nie wymienia tej sprawy jako swojej inspiracji w posłowiu. Ups. Nieładnie.
March 17, 2015
This is not an easy book, on any level. Not in its format (with multiple points of view), nor in the stories it tells, nor in its deep ugliness. There is no hope in this book. There is no redemption. Even the most sympathetic characters (in my opinion), Ada Furst and Detective Ines Iglesias, are fouled by the rottenness that is RACE in America.
The book is about PREJUDICE (and each character presented shows his or her prejudice) and about RACISM (what happens when prejudice gains power). And Ms. Oates absolutely, masterfully creates a believable narrative to show just how rotten our society is--at every level--when it comes to prejudice and racism.
This is not an easy book. It's not a pleasant book. It's not a comfortable read. It's believable. It's ugly. It's powerful. And it is a masterpiece.
The book is about PREJUDICE (and each character presented shows his or her prejudice) and about RACISM (what happens when prejudice gains power). And Ms. Oates absolutely, masterfully creates a believable narrative to show just how rotten our society is--at every level--when it comes to prejudice and racism.
This is not an easy book. It's not a pleasant book. It's not a comfortable read. It's believable. It's ugly. It's powerful. And it is a masterpiece.
December 5, 2021
Well that was tough going. Based on a true story, the book covers the aftermath of an alleged sexual assault and violent attack of a black teenage girl in the 80s. There were no heroes and no winners here, as we see multiple people's perspectives, with several people trying to spin the story to their benefit. I'm not sure I would ever recommend it, but I felt it was a worthwhile read, if only to see the systemic racism encountered in this novel.
February 17, 2023
واقعا کتاب مزخرفی بود. مدام تکرار مکررات. از صفحه اول تا آخر تکرار میکرد چند پلیس سفیدپوست، به دختری سیاهپوست تجاوز کردن. آخر داستان هم که مناسب برای اخبار صداوسیما بود. میشد این کتابو تو پنجاه صفحه نوشت نه چهارصد صفحه!!!
November 15, 2017
The good thing about Joyce Carol Oates is that she writes so many books that you never suffer from lack of boredom with subject matter or interest in finding out what topic she decides to explore next. As with any large body of work, she's got her hits and misses. "The Sacrifice" is not only a miss, it's a spectacular fail.
This book is based loosely off of the infamous November 1987 case of Tawana Brawley, a 15 year old Black teenager in upstate New York who was discovered unresponsive in a yard, covered in racist slurs written on her body and lying in a garbage bag, with dog feces and mud in her hair. She had been missing for 4 days previously. The story that later emerged was that she had been kidnapped and held captive during that time and raped by several white men, including local police officers and a district attorney. Assisted by Reverend Al Sharpton and two attorneys who represented the young woman and "managed" her interests, the story later generated national headlines and inflamed racial tensions.
There were many holes in Brawley's story. Despite claiming that she had been held outside for 4 days, Brawley showed no signs of hypothermia and was well-nourished. Tests found that no rape or sexual assault of any kind had ever occurred. The slurs that had been written on her body were written upside down, as if Brawley had written them herself. Several schoolmates also testified that they had witnessed Brawley at a party during the time of her abduction. A year later, a grand jury found that Brawley had lied about the incident and she, Sharpton, and the two attorneys involved with her case were ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages for a defamation of character claim to the district attorney they accused of the crime.
Joyce Carol Oates takes the Brawley case and fictionalizes it, changing names and the location from upstate New York to a fictional urban area of New Jersey. She takes on multiple points of view for everyone involved in the case--the supposed victim, Sybilla Frye, her mother Ednetta, her violent stepfather Anis, a skittish investigator named Ines Iglesias, and a manipulative, power hungry preacher named Marus Mudrick who is so close to the real life Al Sharpton that you have to laugh.
For me, this book became unreadable after about 40% of the way in. I did persist to the end, though barely. There is some good storytelling here, though it's bogged down with unnecessary, highly questionable physical descriptions and language that makes no fucking sense whatsoever. For a White woman author, Oates seems preoccupied with her characters' dark skin and nappy hair, along with Ednetta's fatness and high blood pressure. There is also flagrant use of the n-word, without any kind of background context whatsoever. I got the sense that the characters here weren't really characters, but more like caricatures created to fit a kind of "common" inner-city poverty narrative that favors a classist White viewpoint.
Also annoying is Oates' attempt at Ebonics (AAVE, or African American Vernacular English) whenever her Black characters speak. The characters appear to not pronounce vowels but this is inconsistent, even in the same sentence, especially by Ednetta: "S'b'lla young for her age, and trustin--she smile at just about anybody." There's also widespread use of the word "nigra" by the Black characters--a word that, as a 30 something Black woman myself, I have never heard other Black people use, even as far back as the 1980's. The effect of the language here is not of someone creating an authentic experience, but of a White author trying to grasp how she thinks poor Black people talk. Regardless of intention, it's offensive.
There are lots of issues with this book, yet no empathy to be found in this story. Overall, it's badly written and the only reason I'm giving it two stars is because the story existed long before Oates ever touched it. Not good.
This book is based loosely off of the infamous November 1987 case of Tawana Brawley, a 15 year old Black teenager in upstate New York who was discovered unresponsive in a yard, covered in racist slurs written on her body and lying in a garbage bag, with dog feces and mud in her hair. She had been missing for 4 days previously. The story that later emerged was that she had been kidnapped and held captive during that time and raped by several white men, including local police officers and a district attorney. Assisted by Reverend Al Sharpton and two attorneys who represented the young woman and "managed" her interests, the story later generated national headlines and inflamed racial tensions.
There were many holes in Brawley's story. Despite claiming that she had been held outside for 4 days, Brawley showed no signs of hypothermia and was well-nourished. Tests found that no rape or sexual assault of any kind had ever occurred. The slurs that had been written on her body were written upside down, as if Brawley had written them herself. Several schoolmates also testified that they had witnessed Brawley at a party during the time of her abduction. A year later, a grand jury found that Brawley had lied about the incident and she, Sharpton, and the two attorneys involved with her case were ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages for a defamation of character claim to the district attorney they accused of the crime.
Joyce Carol Oates takes the Brawley case and fictionalizes it, changing names and the location from upstate New York to a fictional urban area of New Jersey. She takes on multiple points of view for everyone involved in the case--the supposed victim, Sybilla Frye, her mother Ednetta, her violent stepfather Anis, a skittish investigator named Ines Iglesias, and a manipulative, power hungry preacher named Marus Mudrick who is so close to the real life Al Sharpton that you have to laugh.
For me, this book became unreadable after about 40% of the way in. I did persist to the end, though barely. There is some good storytelling here, though it's bogged down with unnecessary, highly questionable physical descriptions and language that makes no fucking sense whatsoever. For a White woman author, Oates seems preoccupied with her characters' dark skin and nappy hair, along with Ednetta's fatness and high blood pressure. There is also flagrant use of the n-word, without any kind of background context whatsoever. I got the sense that the characters here weren't really characters, but more like caricatures created to fit a kind of "common" inner-city poverty narrative that favors a classist White viewpoint.
Also annoying is Oates' attempt at Ebonics (AAVE, or African American Vernacular English) whenever her Black characters speak. The characters appear to not pronounce vowels but this is inconsistent, even in the same sentence, especially by Ednetta: "S'b'lla young for her age, and trustin--she smile at just about anybody." There's also widespread use of the word "nigra" by the Black characters--a word that, as a 30 something Black woman myself, I have never heard other Black people use, even as far back as the 1980's. The effect of the language here is not of someone creating an authentic experience, but of a White author trying to grasp how she thinks poor Black people talk. Regardless of intention, it's offensive.
There are lots of issues with this book, yet no empathy to be found in this story. Overall, it's badly written and the only reason I'm giving it two stars is because the story existed long before Oates ever touched it. Not good.
March 10, 2015
Chapter 1 of The Sacrifice by Joyce Carol Oates is about a mother in inner city Pascayne, New Jersey, searching for her missing 14-year-old daughter. I was bored and, having grown up in New Jersey, wondering if Pascayne was a real city that I never heard about, or what city the author was modeling the town on.
Chapter 2 found me referring back to Chapter 1 to see if the character, Ada, was introduced in Chapter 1. The story begins in October 1987; much description of the polluted river, closed plants, abandoned houses used by homeless, drug users, and so on.
Spoiler Alert:
Ada finds the missing girl (finally)hogtied, covered in blood, feces, words written on her stomach, blah, blah, blah.
Chapter 3 appears to be a first person narrative, the girl, Sybilla, thinking about the ordeal that lead her to being left to die.
Have no idea who the "we" are that are recounting the next part of the story. Until "I was the ER physician on duty..." Okay, if the physician is speaking, he obviously was not the EMT's responding to the 911 call, doing the speaking before the ER doctor began speaking. Confusing.
"(Right away I had to wonder---who would write words on somebody's body upside-down.)"
"Where (presumably) the rope had been tied around her wrists and ankles, there were only faint red abrasions on the skin. No deep abrasions, welts, or cuts."
Okay, I know where this story is going: Twana Brawley. I already know that story. I also know much about the Newark (and other) riots; racial tensions; ghettos or inner city devastation; African-Americans distrust of police.
I stopped reading a few pages into the next chapter. Perhaps people who do not know about Twana Brawley and so on, would be educated by this novel; I found it confusing to read, too much irrelevant information (perhaps knowing where Ada went to school would become important to the story later on, who knows,) and boring. I prefer a story that flows and does not cause my mind to wander as I read. Just could not get into this one.
Chapter 2 found me referring back to Chapter 1 to see if the character, Ada, was introduced in Chapter 1. The story begins in October 1987; much description of the polluted river, closed plants, abandoned houses used by homeless, drug users, and so on.
Spoiler Alert:
Ada finds the missing girl (finally)hogtied, covered in blood, feces, words written on her stomach, blah, blah, blah.
Chapter 3 appears to be a first person narrative, the girl, Sybilla, thinking about the ordeal that lead her to being left to die.
Have no idea who the "we" are that are recounting the next part of the story. Until "I was the ER physician on duty..." Okay, if the physician is speaking, he obviously was not the EMT's responding to the 911 call, doing the speaking before the ER doctor began speaking. Confusing.
"(Right away I had to wonder---who would write words on somebody's body upside-down.)"
"Where (presumably) the rope had been tied around her wrists and ankles, there were only faint red abrasions on the skin. No deep abrasions, welts, or cuts."
Okay, I know where this story is going: Twana Brawley. I already know that story. I also know much about the Newark (and other) riots; racial tensions; ghettos or inner city devastation; African-Americans distrust of police.
I stopped reading a few pages into the next chapter. Perhaps people who do not know about Twana Brawley and so on, would be educated by this novel; I found it confusing to read, too much irrelevant information (perhaps knowing where Ada went to school would become important to the story later on, who knows,) and boring. I prefer a story that flows and does not cause my mind to wander as I read. Just could not get into this one.
August 30, 2015
Upon reading finishing this novel I nearly cried because it highlights our troubled racially tense society. In as much as we'd like to believe that we Americans are free of bias, we are not. Think of the distrust among the races even today. Think Ferguson, MO. Think race riots of the late 60s. Think Tawana Brawley in the late 80s.
Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of a young urban girl in fictional Pascayne, New Jersey whose experience was like Tawana's. When fifteen year old Sybilla Frye is found in an abandoned factory, abused, gagged and hog-tied, caked with mud, feces, and with racial epithets scribbled over her chest, she accuses five or six member of the predominantly white police force of kidnapping and raping her. Ednetta, Sybilla's hysterical mother, sets into play a story that will divide the community and gain national attention. Enter an Al Sharpton-like rabble-rousing opportunist Reverend Marus Mudrick who whips up fervor and frenzy through manipulation and truth-bending. Through Sybilla's stepfather Anis Schutt we read what it must feel like to DWB, that is "drive while black" and to have the Angel of Wrath always on a shoulder. We read of Jere Zahn, a young rookie cop beset by bad luck and circumstance and of Ines Iglesias, a young Hispanic police officer assigned to get Sybilla's story but who is stonewalled every inch of the way by both the alleged victim and the police department.
A discussion of this novel might well focus on its many social, political and moral themes.
Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of a young urban girl in fictional Pascayne, New Jersey whose experience was like Tawana's. When fifteen year old Sybilla Frye is found in an abandoned factory, abused, gagged and hog-tied, caked with mud, feces, and with racial epithets scribbled over her chest, she accuses five or six member of the predominantly white police force of kidnapping and raping her. Ednetta, Sybilla's hysterical mother, sets into play a story that will divide the community and gain national attention. Enter an Al Sharpton-like rabble-rousing opportunist Reverend Marus Mudrick who whips up fervor and frenzy through manipulation and truth-bending. Through Sybilla's stepfather Anis Schutt we read what it must feel like to DWB, that is "drive while black" and to have the Angel of Wrath always on a shoulder. We read of Jere Zahn, a young rookie cop beset by bad luck and circumstance and of Ines Iglesias, a young Hispanic police officer assigned to get Sybilla's story but who is stonewalled every inch of the way by both the alleged victim and the police department.
A discussion of this novel might well focus on its many social, political and moral themes.
February 5, 2015
A story of poverty, racism and exploitation. The book is based on the true story of Tawana Brawley who was found raped, beaten and had been smeared with feces and racist slurs. Both the black and white communities rallied to bring attention to this horrific crime. The story is about how black leaders used the event to rally support for the cause and also make themselves rich and famous. The book seems very timely now when events are making us look at racism and police brutality.
October 20, 2019
So immensely disappointed in this 'based on a true life event ' novel by Oates. As a white author she oversteps her role as storyteller in making her characters too cliche. I had enormous issues with the a story which doesn't need to be retold. It gratuitously upholds racist stereotypes, minimizes the fact that a very infinitesimal amount of rape reports are false, and assumes the worst in all characters.
February 13, 2021
نویسنده در کل صفحات کتاب تعدادی جمله را مداوم تکرار می کند گویا قراردادی با ناشر بر اساس تعداد کلمات دارد.
در پشت جلد ترجمه فارسی هم قسمتی از کتاب آمده که عملا نقطه عطف و راز موجود در کتاب را روشن می کند و شما در تمامی مدتی که کتاب را می خوانید می دانید که اصل قضیه از چه قرار است
در پشت جلد ترجمه فارسی هم قسمتی از کتاب آمده که عملا نقطه عطف و راز موجود در کتاب را روشن می کند و شما در تمامی مدتی که کتاب را می خوانید می دانید که اصل قضیه از چه قرار است
May 31, 2024
I was skeptical that a late middle-age white woman could convincingly write in the voice of poor urban African Americans. But it’s Joyce Carol Oates. She could write from the point of view of a Martian and I’d be convinced of its existence!
This is truly a sad, tragic story of a mother and a daughter who are used and abused—in many different ways—by just about every man they encounter. The two—especially the mom—seem to be doing the best they can, but the reader knows (especially if they know the Tawana Brawley incident on which this is based) that the truth will leak out, if in this book is only around the edges. Masterful job. Again!
This is truly a sad, tragic story of a mother and a daughter who are used and abused—in many different ways—by just about every man they encounter. The two—especially the mom—seem to be doing the best they can, but the reader knows (especially if they know the Tawana Brawley incident on which this is based) that the truth will leak out, if in this book is only around the edges. Masterful job. Again!
February 12, 2023
Muhammed nas wszystkich zjednoczy.
Tak dziwnej ale ekscytującej książki dawno nie czytałam, to co się zaczęło dziać 200 stron przed końcem, i ten wątek z tym chłopakiem, jakby the fuck.
Tak dziwnej ale ekscytującej książki dawno nie czytałam, to co się zaczęło dziać 200 stron przed końcem, i ten wątek z tym chłopakiem, jakby the fuck.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 8, 2018دویست صفحه اول واقعا جذاب و فوق العاده بود اما بعد از اون روند داستان یکم کند و کسل کننده شد. در کل کتاب جالبی بود در مورد نژادپرستی و هم تر از اون فرصت طلبی همه افراد. و اشاره مستقیمی داشت به ضرب المثل "چاه نکن بحر کسی..."
April 20, 2015
I was ultimately quite disappointed in this book. It's not normally the type of book I pick up, but I have loved Joyce Carol Oates. But it was (I'm sorry to say) a rip-off. The front of the book has the standard "This book is a work of fiction.... Any resemblance to actual events ... is entirely coincidental." REALLY? It takes reading the cover to know this is a retelling of the Tawana Brawley incident. The characters, with names changed, are EXACTLY like Tawana, her mother and step-father, Al Sharpton, and the rest. The events are the same, even down to Mike Tyson visiting and giving her his gold watch, the local DA being accused as one of the rapists, another accused officer committing suicide, and Tawana's eventual conversion to Islam. Who are we fooling here?? The only thing I appreciated was the perspective of the victims (all of them, and there were many) but what was missing (and what I expected) was some kind of commentary or viewpoint that sought to make sense of it all. This was absent. Having lived through this time in New York, I know that the book did not even attempt to address the terrible effect on race relations that this case had in New York, and possibly elsewhere. Those who want to deny the inner-city black experience and racism could say "SEE! THEY MAKE THIS SHIT UP!" and they DID say these things. I can only imagine that this case took race relations in New York BACK 20 years. I am so disappointed in Oates. Anyone can see that even with the extent that Tawana was an agent in the events, she was more so a victim, manipulated by her mother and by Sharpton. THey took her actions and ideas and ran with them. While the accused DA deserves to have his damages paid, I think it's a shame the Tawana, all these years later, must start to pay on a debt that no average person could ever pay. Joyce Carol Oates, I call on you to take the proceeds from this book, which was practically lifted from the Grand Jury report you mention only in passing at the end, and help Tawana pay off her debt. I am left with the feeling that you are just like everyone else in this story who have looked to profit from this tragic story. It pains me to say that.
March 19, 2015
I read "them" long ago and was stunned by it.
I well remember Tawana Brawley and the host of sensationalism and media outrage that accompanied her claims. Adam Clayton Powell, Al Sharpton, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. - and so many other preachers and teachers and peacemakers and provacateurs of ALL colors and stripes - sit in my mind.
This novel is about sacrifice on many levels - personal, local, national; physical and spiritual. It resounds on many levels, especially given all the media attention to the fact that all lives of all colors matter.
However, in this "media age," it's so important to weigh sources and not rush to judgment per the latest on national news, especially Fox (if you happen to partake of its version of the news).
And it's so horrible to know that we remain in many ways an utterly divided society based on race, money and class. And that we remain a country too tied to celebrity and instant gratification and obfuscation and lying. And there are far too many people falling into the mire of covering up while exposing all.
I don't know whether Oates is at "the top of her craft," but I did find this a worthwhile and thoughtful and saddening novel.
I well remember Tawana Brawley and the host of sensationalism and media outrage that accompanied her claims. Adam Clayton Powell, Al Sharpton, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. - and so many other preachers and teachers and peacemakers and provacateurs of ALL colors and stripes - sit in my mind.
This novel is about sacrifice on many levels - personal, local, national; physical and spiritual. It resounds on many levels, especially given all the media attention to the fact that all lives of all colors matter.
However, in this "media age," it's so important to weigh sources and not rush to judgment per the latest on national news, especially Fox (if you happen to partake of its version of the news).
And it's so horrible to know that we remain in many ways an utterly divided society based on race, money and class. And that we remain a country too tied to celebrity and instant gratification and obfuscation and lying. And there are far too many people falling into the mire of covering up while exposing all.
I don't know whether Oates is at "the top of her craft," but I did find this a worthwhile and thoughtful and saddening novel.
September 11, 2018
wow look at me finishing a book (unheard of).
This is my first Joyce Carol Oates' novel and I think (?) she's like a big name in the literary world (I'm like so educated it's shocking) but I don't really think this was a great introduction to her work because it was a Stale Piece of White Bread.
The plot is good, the choice of perspectives is super good too but just so terribly executed. One of those cases where I wish I could just take the different elements and hand them to a more competent author (don't @ me) because this could've been so much more than it was.
I actually still can't believe I finished it lmao, go me #selfsupport #selflove.
This is my first Joyce Carol Oates' novel and I think (?) she's like a big name in the literary world (I'm like so educated it's shocking) but I don't really think this was a great introduction to her work because it was a Stale Piece of White Bread.
The plot is good, the choice of perspectives is super good too but just so terribly executed. One of those cases where I wish I could just take the different elements and hand them to a more competent author (don't @ me) because this could've been so much more than it was.
I actually still can't believe I finished it lmao, go me #selfsupport #selflove.
September 11, 2015
Not sure if JCO has gotten less creative or I just had less reading under my belt when I first fell in love with her novels twenty years ago (after they already were ten years old). However, this is the second contemporary work of hers I've read in less than a year and kind of wish I hadn't. Yawn- where's the plot? Where's any real character development? I could go on, but won't. It was just okay.
October 4, 2018
This is a compelling, dark story. I struggled with the rating, because while I was thoroughly immersed in the audio, some parts of it seemed very far-fetched. People don't really behave like that, do they? Please tell me they don't! But now that I have finished the book, I've learned that it is based on an actual incident. And I am stunned.
October 19, 2022
کتاب قشنگی بود و شوکهکننده.
هم درباره نژادپرستی و هم سواستفاده از نژاد.
با توجه به پرونده واقعی که درباره دختری سیاهپوست به نام توانا براولی هست، کتاب بهشدت شبیه این پرونده واقعی نوشته شده. یه پرونده عجیب و تاملبرانگیز.
هم درباره نژادپرستی و هم سواستفاده از نژاد.
با توجه به پرونده واقعی که درباره دختری سیاهپوست به نام توانا براولی هست، کتاب بهشدت شبیه این پرونده واقعی نوشته شده. یه پرونده عجیب و تاملبرانگیز.
February 10, 2015
What an incredibly dull novel. The plot was quite promising however the book just became duller and duller after the 5th chapter. Especially when the Reverend and his brother stepped in.
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