Obi; Or, the History of Three-Fingered Jack

by William Earle, Srinivas Aravamudan (Editor)

“Three-Fingered Jack,” the protagonist of this 1800 novel, is based on the escaped slave and Jamaican folk hero Jack Mansong, who was believed to have gained his strength from the Afro-Caribbean religion of obeah, or “obi.” His story, told in an inventive mix of styles, is a rousing and sympathetic account of an individual’s attempt to combat slavery while defending family honour. Historically significant for its portrayal of a slave rebellion and of the practice of obeah, Obi is also a fast-paced and lively novel, blending religion, politics, and romance. This Broadview edition includes a critical introduction and a selection of contemporary documents, including historical and literary treatments of obeah and accounts of an eighteenth-century slave rebellion.

Genres: School, Classics, Fiction, 18th Century, Read For School, Grad School, College

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1800

Reviews

[Allison Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wrote an award-winning paper about this book; otherwise, I would have probably just given it 2 stars.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do you rate a text like this? It's historical, it's sentimental, it's racist and yet, simultaneously, it's the only text of the period that casts a slave insurrectionist as an undeniably heroic figure. I enjoyed this book for what it was, but the real asset of this edition is its superb appendices and historical grounding.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was published in 1800 and it contains the typical sorts of things that books from the time contain that are irritating to pedantic readers. It's written as a series of letters, each beginning, "Dear Charles..." But when the author wants to make an emotional appeal to readers, he says, "Dear reader..." Make up your mind, dear author. The first letter claims that the subject of the novel, Jack, who dies at the end of the story, is also the subject of so much public gossip that the narrator can think of nothing else. The end of the last letter says that the events of the story occurred many years before the letters were written. Additionally, the author misuses "thy" and "thine". These sorts of things would either keep a book from being published today or would be corrected during editing. Or someone would self-publish and no one would read it.

Despite these irritations, the book contains a lot of historical information that is useful to anyone who wants to understand the time or slavery better. This edition, particularly, has tons of supplemental material to help put the story in its context and to illuminate references that are obscure to the modern reader.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note on the edition: I love reading Broadview editions because the intro and appendices make the book an invaluable resource for all kinds of other contextualization concerns rather than just proving the primary text!!!

Overall, this book is an epistolary (think letters) novel that bounces back and forth (but the reader only ever sees one side) between George Stanford and "Charles." (I am guessing it is Charles like Harriet's dad but I am not 100% positive).

The characters' names become confusing, but other than that it is a pretty linear narrative of an abolitionist African native fighting for freedom in Jamaica. It is a "heroic" tale, but still ends in a mix of death and marriage (almost like the meeting of a Shakespearean tragedy AND comedy all in one). If you have read and enjoyed Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, then this book is for you!

I would not have picked this book up to read without external influence (primarily because I hate epistolary novels), but for a required read it was not half bad.

[Katarzyna Bartoszynska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to me, mostly, because it's a bit of a mess. Gaps and inconsistencies in the plot, events related all out of order and sometimes repeated from different perspectives (even when the other character doesn't really offer any new information), random storylines shoe-horned in - it's all over the place. Extremely reminiscent of Oroonoko at times, though apparently based in historical fact. The footnotes are an odd little delight of their own, digressing, sometimes even at great length! on the most unexpected topics.
It wasn't the rollicking tale I was hoping for, but proved rewarding in other ways.

[Sophie Nguyen]

“Rise, and reassume your rights. Throw off the chains that incircle ye, and oppose the enemies of your country man to man. What is there a desperate and firm mind cannot accomplish? Remember the struggle is for liberty; to destroy the power of our enemies, to regain the privileges of our native land.

“Who is there would not, for the sake of themselves, their wives, their children and their country, rise into a firm body, cemented by the ties that bind us to each other? Who is there would not rise to repel the bold invaders of those rights dear to an African, and to every man who loves his country and his tender offspring?”

[Kacy Hogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, what a little FAB book! Very thankful for my romanticism prof for having this book on our reading list for the semester; a great adventure but filled with so much meaning! And, all things considered, the fact this was written by a white British teenager … what a cool dude. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall during this era to see what sort of social horror this stirred up.

[Rebecca Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this novel. It was like learning folklore. The story of Jack is like hearing the story of Paul Bunyan or John Henry. With an evil twist of course because it's a story of slavery, colonialism, and fighting for the right to live your own life.

[Chris Gabbard · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a white British kid who had never been to the Caribbean, Earle wrote a pretty good tale. However, don't go to this book expecting to get insight into what life was actually like for displaced Africans. This is well-meaning British kid's fantasy.

[Anna Boatwright · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the literature-class books I’ve read… stuck with it til the end for the sake of the reading goal but it kinda over promises and under delivers. Or maybe it’s really that my professor and the class discussion over promised.

[Kate Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an exciting read, the epistolary form was at times a little confusing but added a certain quirk. It was at times harrowing but told with a lot of respect for humanity, calling others to humanise the experience of slaves.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important message about colonial slavery and the horrors that Europeans inflicted upon Africans, although it was told with a little too much dramatic flair for my liking.

[Cristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a relatively easy and enjoyable read. There were bits of the story I thought were unnecessary but were only included because it was written in the British romantic era.

[Destiny · Rating 2 out of 5]

*1.5*

[Juliette · Rating 3 out of 5]

read it for class

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was fine. I am not a big fan of the class I had to read it for, but it is one of the books we have read so far in that class that wasn't unbearable.

[Margaret Ennen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end was SO DISAPPOINTING

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 but I'll round down. I enjoyed it a lot, and I guess I'm in the minority of reviews with that opinion lol.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good! The story was interesting and it was based on a true story which made the story very enjoyable. It was kinda short but overall pretty good. 3.5/5.

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Which 3 fingers does he have though? Big questions for big brains

[anika]

dnf @ 27%

yall this was not good

[paper · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine. It's short. It's kind of racist and melodramatic, and the ending is a bit of a downer , but if you have to read it for class, its shortness and clarity makes it less of a slog. It's pretty unique for the time, in that it portrays the slaves mostly in a sympathetic light, and they don't speak in degradingly-rendered pidgin either, but it isn't what I'd call a fun read.

[Tonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire this text for what it was attempting to do, use the form of the novel, pop culture of 1800, to generate affect/sympathy for the abolitionist cause. This text will generate some nice discussion and papers, but definitely did not think it was super well written or that compelling (for me) perhaps for the time period. But, nevertheless important book.

[Katherine Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book to some extent. I found it to be a slow read, but I thought that the social ramifications of a novel like this to be very enlightening. The novel gave me a different perspective of customs during the 18th Century. I would not recommend this book for a summer read, but it does have a ton of historical value.

[Royce Ratterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for personal research - found this book's contents helpful and inspiring.
A good book for the researcher and enthusiast.
- found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.

[Heather Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book wasn't very well written, but the story has some very interesting historical tidbits. you should check out the 1.25 page footnote on plantains!

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on a true story, the man who inspired Obi must have been incredible. The adventures of a man, his mother, and their loss is accounted in William Earle's novel.