Andrea Levy - The Long Song

I'm not proud of this, but I must say it. This week I struggled to finish a book that is only 398 pages long. I can't give you the reason for this. I don't think it was because I wasn't interested in the book because it was quite entertaining. I think my desire to participate in this little challenge is faltering. Nevertheless, I rejoice in the fact that I did finish it and I'm ready to get started on next week's book.

But let's have a little peek at Andrea Levy - The Long Song first. It's a book written by a British author whose roots are in Jamaica. The novel is set in Jamaica in the last years of slavery as told by the narrator July. We skip back and forth to July writing the story while being supervised by her son Thomas to the actual tale where we read all about July's struggles in Jamaica before and after the abolishment of slavery. 

The narration of the actual tale is interesting, but the pieces in between where Thomas talks to his mother are tedious. Luckily these aren't long passages, which makes the book perfectly bearable. This is the most striking part of the book where older July does not want to admit the story is actually about here:

 "This tale is of my making. This story is told for my amusement. What befalls July is for me to devise. Better that my son save his wrath for those parts of his household which deserve to see the anger he can raise, was my reply. 

'Mama,' he say to me, 'do not take me for a fool. This is the story of your own life, not of your creating, I can see this.'

'No it is not,' I tell him.

'It is,' him say.

'It is of my making,' I tell him.'" (Levy, 185)

And in that same passage she stubbornly persists in referring to July in the third person, never really relating to her and thus keeping a safe distance from her past. It's a good book. But this distance ruins it in a way that we can't really feel for this character, which to me is one of the most important elements in books about slavery. It's an emotional subject and not something you can describe dryly. 

It's time for bed now though. Let's see if I can meet next week's challenge. I have yet to pick a book though, which is the most exciting thing of doing this challenge. Buying and picking books on a weekly basis.