Reading 1001 discussion

1 star

DNF.

I have only DNFd two books this year. I hate starting books and not finishing them. But this one -- I read half and could not get past the sermonizing. It just isn't my type of book.

2 stars

So, I can see why this book has great historical significance, but man, is it a slog. I listened to the audiobook at twice the speed because otherwise there was no way I was going to make it through all that preaching. Normally I listen at 1.25 or maybe 1.5x. I was relatively interested in the basic plot lines, but there was just so much speechifying and so much God. Too much God. I did learn a decent amount about slavery in America and I understand where Uncle Tom and Sambo characters come from.

This was my July TBR Takedown book, and I read it using Serial Reader. It was too long for the busy month of July, and it did take me a while to really get into the story. Yet, once I got further in, I truly appreciated it. Unlike some other readers, I did not struggle to get through the Christian aspect of the story, although I agree it was incredibly heavy-handed. I completely understand why this book is a difficult read for many of today's readers, but I also believe it is still an important classic to read. It's easy to see how it made such an impact when it was first published. The stories of many of the characters are powerful and emotional. Today, I think we have a responsibility to pair it with the slave and free black narratives of the time that are also available.

Read in 2015

Some things I did not know about Uncle Tom's Cabin. “As an American document of transforming power, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) is outranked only by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Emancipation Proclamation.” It was the biggest best-seller of the nineteenth century after the Bible. Call me a sentimentalist, but I loved this book. It exceeded my expectations. I thought Harriet did a wonderful job telling the story of slavery from many different viewpoints. Yes it was over sentimental and preachy at times but I still enjoyed the journey of Tom and Eliza. Two quotes from the book that really stayed with me; “Up in Kentuck. A man kept me to breed chil'en for market, and sold 'em as fast as they got big enough: last of all, he sold me to a speculator, and my Mas'r got me o'him.” And “But it's no kind of apology for slavery, to prove that it is n't worse than some other bad thing.”

Read 2017
Published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin is an antislavery book. It is a story written in supplements like Dicken's wrote his stories and the stories of various characters revolve around Uncle Tom, a longsuffering, godly man. It was the best selling novel of the 19th century, second to the Bible. The characters can be called stereotypes and this book gets much criticism in this day and age. I read this after reading The Underground Railroad and am glad to have done so. What I liked in the story is that the author not only shows the evil of slavery in south she also shows the bigotry of the Northern people in their treatment of blacks. It is unfortunate to only criticize the book for its stereotypes and fail to acknowledge the impact of the book during the time in which it was written.

I have wanted to read this book for ages and it was better than I hoped. Yes, it is about as subtle as being hit with a hammer but it has a wonderful message, it critiques citizens of the North for their treatment as well as those of the South, and it is genuinely tense and exciting to see how the various escaped slaves fare.

To me Tom was a Jesus-style character; inspirational and brave, who never wavered in his integrity and morality. I found it a wonderful book to read as a practicing Christian. It is very interesting to see a Black character, a slave, fit into the history of Christian literature.

But I agree with Daisey that we do now have a duty to read the works of Black authors of the time too. This book is so powerful but it is not perfect.

4 stars.

Pre-2016 review:

*** 1/2

This novel is probably more famous for its impact on the debate about the abolition of slavery than for its literary qualities. True, the novel depicts the lives, trials and tribulations of almost stereotypical slaves trying to better their conditions, resorting, for example, to escape or to an absolute belief in God. It offers various arguments for and against the case of slavery, aimed at ultimately demonstrating that the practice is evil and must be stopped. However, the novel suffers from two major weaknesses (among others). First, the "happy" ending was probably too coincidental, too good-to-be-true and underdeveloped (and time proved that George made the wrong choice in ultimately settling in Liberia instead of "effeminate" Haiti or even going back to Montreal). Second, the presence of religion is way too strong, especially as the sole source of justification against the case of slavery; I agree that probably this was more fitting with the epoch at which the novel was written. However, for a modern reader, it is quite irritating.