Born in 1808 to a free black father in Minerva, New York, Solomon received a solid education, learned to play the violin, married, raised three children and worked various jobs in rural New York, establishing himself as a citizen of honorable stature. However, his unremarkable life was changed forever in 1841 when he was drugged and kidnapped from his hometown by two visiting businessmen. In chains and stripped of any identifying documents he was transported south to Virginia where his protestations of freedom were met with violent whippings. Beaten into submission and shipped onward by sea, he was eventually sold to a plantation owner in the bayou country of northern Louisiana where he would spend the next twelve years in the darkest servitude.
Uprooted from anything he had ever known, Northup tells his story with an astonishing balance of sorrow and objectivity. Despite his violent hatred of the institution of slavery, the regular beatings he receives and his daily yearning for an opportunity to escape, he never hesitates to point out the frequent acts of kindness that he encounters during his time as a slave. While witness to some of the most cruel and vile acts imaginable, he somehow manages to hold onto his humanity. As the title alludes, a fortuitous combination of events leads to his freedom in 1853 and reunification with his family.
Shortly upon his return to New York, Northup was motivated to write his story due to the widespread belief, even in the North, that slavery really wasn’t so wicked, that maybe it was “good for the Negro” to have such a rigorously structured system for their “employment”. Just one year earlier, Uncle Tom’s Cabin had been published and had met with strong criticism from slave holding states, protesting that the mistreatment of slaves had been flagrantly exaggerated, so much so that Harriet Beecher Stowe felt the need to publish a second book presenting the source material for her original novel. Northup wanted to fully document that, at least in Louisiana, the reality of slavery was as horrific as the most zealous abolitionists claimed. Throughout the book he includes the details of his widespread contacts throughout the Red River Valley in order to buttress the veracity of his claims.
While the modern reader may find Northup’s early 19th century writing style a bit of a challenge, I actually grew used to the formal prose rather quickly. The author frequently shows great restraint in the descriptions of the horrors he witnesses, lest he be accused of hyperbole or embellishment. His matter-of-fact delivery – as if he were testifying in court – stands in such stark contrast to the daily terrors he describes that it makes the story that much more moving and gut-wrenching.
In the end, Twelve Years a Slave is both a profound memoir and a well written, passionate abolitionist document from an involuntary inside informant. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in American history or who has never heard of Solomon Northup.
This book should be required reading for every American History class. There are so few first-hand accounts of slavery, this is a gem, particularly because he knew freedom before he was forced into slavery. It wasn't very graphic, I think because of the time - mid-1800s, before spill-all accounts became the norm. What struck me was how he emphasized that every slave, no matter their station, their knowledge of the world, or their opportunity, longed for freedom. They knew what it was, even having been born a slave, and would have chosen it over slavery given any opportunity. He described abhorrent living conditions, albeit in a measured, not overly descriptive manner: he was given a bare subsistence-level amount of food, was worked from dawn till 10pm or midnight each day, and was given constant lashings for arbitrary reasons. Or sometimes the slaves would have to dance when the master commanded, sometimes till dawn, and then were expected to work the full day into the night.
It was also inspiring, the people and events that conspired together to free him: the Canadian carpenter who vowed on his life to get Solomon freed, the New York attorney/neighbor who went to great lengths to retrieve Soloman from Louisiana, or Soloman's son who was working and saving money to buy his dad's freedom.
I grew up in the South, and remember American History in elementary, middle, and high school touching on slavery, but more glossing over it. Some teachers said the Civil War was about slavery, some said it was not. My mom attended school in a segregated Alabama school in the 50s and 60s, and they were taught that slaves were well treated, provided for, and many preferred remaining slaves. Reading this book shows how white America omits a major, terrible part of our past, a part that should receive more attention than at present.
April 26, 2022
“12 Years a Slave”, subtitled “Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, From a Cotton Plantation Near the Red River, in Louisiana”, tells the story of Solomon Northup, an African-American freeman who, in 1841, was snatched off the streets of Washington, and sold into slavery. Thereafter, he was passed from master to master, ending up in the plantation of the brutish drunk Edwin Epps . After 12 years, he was saved by the help of his friends up North tipped by a Canadian abolitionist. While the story is about Solomon as an individual, it represents an entire subjugated people and, by extension, the peculiar institution of slavery, as well as the American past. Unlike most of the enslaved people whose fate he shared for a dozen years, Solomon Northup was born into freedom. He was literate. That made him an exceptional historical witness, because even while he was trapped inside the institution of slavery — physically, psychologically, emotionally — part of him remained intellectually and culturally at a remove, which gives his book a powerful double perspective. In Northup’s memoir, which was published a year after “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and eight years before the Civil War, he interrupts an account of his own near-lynching to comment on the man largely to blame for the noose around his neck. “But whatever motive may have governed the cowardly and malignant tyrant,” he writes, “it is of no importance.” It doesn’t matter why Northup was strung up in a tree like a dead deer in the summer sun, bathed in sweat, with little water to drink. What matters is what has often been missing among the economic, social and cultural explanations of American slavery and in many of its representations: human suffering. He writes: “My wrists and ankles, and the cords of my legs and arms began to swell, burying the rope that bound them into the swollen flesh." The book was made into a movie by British director Steve McQueen in 2013. It won the Oscar for best picture, best actor and best supporting actress. The movie exposes American slavery in image after image of cruelty, sometimes in heart wrenching and hard to watch scenes , like the flayed backs of slaves, revealing it as one of the most brutal systems the world has ever known and demolishes the myths portrayed for so long in racist trash like Gone with the Wind. There are no “moonlight and magnolias” here. Nor are there happy "childlike" slaves devoted to their masters. The glamorous society of genteel mannered paternalistic gentry, that Margaret Mitchell described in "Gone With the Wind" didn't exist. The lives of slaves meant backbreaking work from dawn to dusk; a slave’s child or spouse could be sold at any time; hunger was ever-present. The antebellum South was a totalitarian police state ever in fear of slave uprisings.
633 reviews72 followers
March 1, 2014
12 Years A Slave was a powerful listen. Narrated by Louis Gossett, in a smooth tone that made you feel that he really was Solomon Northup, retelling his days and months and years with all of his rights as a free man stripped from him.
What makes this book all the more breathtaking is that it is non fiction. Solomon shares with his readers the good, the bad, and the extreme ugliness of man during this time period. I found my heart heavy as I can not wrap my mind around what it had to have been like for Solomon during this time of loss of family, and loss of hope of ever seeing them again.
12 Years A Slave is a remarkable story. I am looking forward to seeing the movie.
February 28, 2014
This book is well worth reading. Solomon Northup's biography is not just about his own personal suffering, which is truely terrible, but also about the mindset that sustained slavery in the southern states for so long. The economic dependency of the sugar cane and cotton industries upon slave labour and consequent dehumanisation and exploitation of slaves without which estate owners would never have survived the South. The film faithfully captures the sentiments of the book and also well worth seeing.
7 reviews6 followers
December 21, 2014
With a necessary dose of reality, the autobiography 12 Years of Slavery promises to thrill and shock readers worldwide. The book that gave rise to the eponymous film is full of strong emotions and portrays perfectly the appalling experiences lived by author Solomon Northup during the period in which he was forced to undergo a life of slavery.
"Having been born a free man and enjoyed for over thirty years, the blessings of liberty in a free state and at the end of that period and abducted and sold into slavery - condition in which stayed until, unfortunately, rescued in January 1853, after twelve years of servitude - was suggested to me that an account of my life and chances that scored could not fail to attract the interest of the public. "
It is an autobiography, so the author is the main character narrating his life in first person. Solomon describes in a beautiful way all the ups and downs of his life as a slave, thrilling through words. He not only describes his own life, but also the little that he can spot of the lives of those who crossed his path, showing all the compassion he felt the secondary character[or, in the case of some,the compassion he didn't].
The writing that was presented to me in the book can be defined, at least , as an extremely brilliant and intricately elaborate writing. The vocabulary that Solomon uses to tell his story is very rich,contrasting with the heavy atmosphere of the setting.It shouldn't work so well but it did.
In this section I have to congratulate the publisher for the great work of translation and revision, I've experienced the book in English as well and I can say with certainty in my words that Seoman managed to bring the work in a immaculate state for Brazilian and Portuguese readers.
"My goal is to provide truthful testimony about the facts:. Retell the story of my life, without exaggeration, leaving to others the task of deciding whether same pages contain more stringent or misleading descriptions of slavery"
The book was able to make me feel excruciating pain and pity me Solomon. Yes, it is an extremely painful and distressing reading, those that make you root for the good of the "character" impaired and want to shred with nails to those who are hurting him.
A brilliant book as 12 Years of Slavery deserves to be read calmly, reading should be sipped slowly. It is not one of those books you sit and read at once, you should enjoy every moment, absorbing every information to the end completely understand what Solomon wanted to move to share your story with the world.
"I could not understand the justice of a law or a religion that would support or recognize the principle of slavery"
With no doubt I point out this book to all readers,specially my fellow historical fiction enthusiasts.
102 reviews6 followers
October 21, 2014
This book was recommended to me by an American History professor. It is wonderfully written and haunting, and I think that it should be required reading for American history classes. It is one thing to read about slavery in the textbooks, and it is quite another to read a first-hand account of what it was like to be a slave in Louisiana in the 1850's. Parts of this novel were completely overwhelming. It is hard to picture a mother being forced to part with her children as they were sold into slavery. The violence, lack of nutrition, and expected production output of the slaves was also appalling. It shocked me that being an abolitionist was perceived as "eccentric", and that this standard was the norm of the times. Northrup's description of how the view of slavery was passed from generation to generation, and boys as young as twelve were encouraged to "hold the whip", was tough to read. I loved Northrup's choice of words, and the idea that he held so many talents that served him well throughout his life. There is a beauty in his choice to remain faithful during his captivity, even if it was out of fear. He held fast to the idea that who he was would free him, and he maintained his faith and character in the face of his many hardships.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
149 reviews5 followers
October 11, 2023
A highly rated book that just did not work for me. Story so far old about slaves that just did not touch me or resonate with me. My fault I admit but it is what it is.
188 reviews2 followers
April 12, 2014
I feel as if my high school AP History teacher and college American History professor failed me by not enlightening me to the existence of this book. It took Hollywood and an Oscar-nominated movie [which I have not yet seen] to clue me in. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, but nothing compares with a first-hand narrative of a historical experience. This one was excellent.
Twelve Years A Slave is told from the perspective of Solomon Northup; a freeborn black man living in New York, who is tricked, captured, and sold into slavery in Louisiana. He serves under several masters over a span of 12 years, before his identity as a free man is discovered and he returns to his family.
This is a narrative, not a story. As such, it reads in a very matter-of-fact non-embellished manner. Some readers may consider this a dry read. In my opinion, the straightforward tone makes the horrors of Northup's experiences stand out more starkly. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Imperative in Northup's narrative, is how dearly freedom is cherished. This is emphasized by Northup's origins as a free man, and contrasts sharply with his experiences as a slave. I came away with a deeper understanding of the appalling nature of slavery, and a better appreciation for my own freedoms.
This is what I consider an important read. It chronicles, in detail, a pivotal point in our country's history. It instills a sense of gratitude in the reader for all of the freedoms enjoyed as a citizen of the United States, which are often taken for granted. I am glad I read this book, and am inspired to seek out more first-hand narratives of the slave experience.
534 reviews6 followers
August 14, 2014
I was incredibly moved by this book--a first person account written in 1850 about what it was really like to be a slave. The author, Simon Northup, describes heinous acts of cruelty in a matter-of-fact manner, which somehow gives the book even more power. He is quick to give credit to the few "nice" slave-owners he encountered, but makes it clear that every slave desired to be free, regardless of how he or she was treated. Although I certainly knew that slaves got whipped, I had no idea how frequently and severely they were beaten--sometimes to the point of death. They had to work from dawn to dusk and often in the full moon with only some bacon and ground corn as their daily diet. Northup was ahead of his time [and amazingly objective considering his own suffering] in figuring out that it was not the individual slave-owners and overseers who were at fault for their own brutality--it was the institution of slavery. Like Dr. Philip Zimbardo [author of "The Lucifer Effect," he could see that when you put people in certain situations, it turns them into brutes. I'm not sure I could stand to see the movie. I had to stop listening to book from time to time because it was unbearable to hear about the torture the slaves endured. What a blight on the United States and all countries who enslaved others. I am thankful that Solomon Northup was finally freed and able to return to his family. Unfortunately, his fellow slaves suffered until the day they died.
474 reviews29 followers
July 15, 2017
After seeing the movie I wanted to read the book. That said, I did it with much trepidation. I didn't want to be disappointed if the book was done exactly like the movie. What the movie, failed, I feel, in their rendition was how educated and well spoken Solomon Northup was. His elegant style reflected on each and every page. He did not transgress into how brutal the overseers and plantation owners were but the reader was informed and enlighten to how conditions were. As he stated at the end of the book, he did not know how slavery worked everywhere, he was only telling his story and his reality in New Oreleans. I can see how and why this book is now being read in the school system it should be; it needs to be. It must be. One should never forget where they have been so that they can look ahead. Northup, hit the nail on the head with the usage today of look at the past but do not stare.
Well written, concise, to the point and enlightening. I would recommend one and all to read this book!
non-fiction
240 reviews
March 25, 2014
This was a fantastic book. I'm so glad I decided to read the book instead of seeing the movie. I was hesitant to see the movie because of the graphic violence. The book has no foul language or graphic violence. It does describe what is happening to the slaves, but it does so in such a stark way, that it is powerful without being overly descriptive. Solomon Northup comes across as an educated, dignified and religious character who never loses sight of who he truly is despite the abuse that is heaped upon him. This being a true story, we aren't able to learn the fates of the other slaves that surrounded "Platt." It gives a taste of what it must be like for descendants of slaves to try and find the history of their ancestors.
351 reviews6 followers
March 24, 2014
I get God triggers when I read books like this. For a person who already is aware of too much of the ugly animal side of humans, these confirm my negative bias rather than make me aghast that human events like this have happened all through history, and they continue to happen.
Kudos to the author for the bravery and courage to speak his truth in such a descriptive manner. Maybe if ALL people started opening up both eyes to the atrocities we commit to each other instead of glossing it over and pretending these things don't exist, we may actually begin to affect change in our world.
I am a truth teller. For that reason, I give this book 4 stars.
257 reviews
January 2, 2016
요즘 최고 이슈가 되는 나이지리아 여중생들 납치사건 아시죠..
이것이야말로 정말 법도 천벌도 무서워하지 않고 인권을 대놓고 무시하는 극악무도한 놈들이죠..
이렇게 인간이 인간 취급을 받지 못하고 상품처럼 대하는 세상..
비단 이 책처럼 옛날 이야기만으로 남아 있는 게 아니죠..
전 이 책이 처음에 소설인 줄 알았는데 true story였고
아마도 이런 일이 비일비재했을 거라는 게 슬퍼지더라구요.
솔로몬은 탈출했지만..
여전히 사회의 악은 충분히 벌받지 않았고
탈출하지 못한 자유인도 그리고 평생 노예였을 사람들도 이런 목소리조차 내지 못하고
그들의 삶보다 평화로운 죽음으로밖에 탈출하지 못했겠지요..
목화 및 사탕수수 농장 등 그 당시 남부의 생활풍경 및 관습들도 잘 배울 수 있었지만
무엇보다 노예제도에 대한 생생한 리포트를 본 느낌이었어요.
어서 영화도 봐야겠군요.
3 reviews
March 25, 2015
This book is awesome!!i would recommend it to history class. The book is touching and you can feel what solomon is through. First he was a free man and stolen in to slavery. He been treated bad as a slave and he weren't allowed to say he was a free man,and he have to work until day light is gone. As he work on building a new cabin and he found a man who would let him have his freedom backs. I would tell my friends to read book because it's awesome!!.
247 reviews3 followers
March 1, 2015
beeindruckend als Zeitdokument, auch heute noch spannend
498 reviews5 followers
October 10, 2018
I bought this book quite a while ago and put it in my "not finished" folder on my kindle after about 20 pages. Recently on a holiday and with my credit card expired, I had to pull out something to read that I already owned.
I've given it a good long go, can't really say how far I've gotten because I've read about 200-275 pages and my kindle says I still am only at 4% and 27 hours to go. So...........ya, no. I couldn't connect in this book. I wanted it to be a book similar to Book of Negroes and it just wasn't at all. It was dry and emotionless and I couldn't find a connection with the main character. The writing is inordinately flowery and complicated and not how anyone speaks, let alone a general labourer back in those days. It felt like the writer/main character was trying to prove how educated and well spoken he was by being overly descriptive, using unnecessary synomyms instead of the common words. It was irritating.
More than anything though, the book didn't leave me angry at white society for what they'd done, it didn't make me sad or frustrated for him and the life he was stolen from. It just made me.......bored. And that's a real disappointment.
454 reviews40 followers
November 13, 2017
the fact that this is a primary source and is so well-written is simply extraordinary
211 reviews3 followers
March 30, 2017
I'd been putting off reading this book for ages, oddly not because of the subject matter but because I was worried about the language used because of the time this book was written. This book is so good and I found it to be very true to the film. I found that I had to keep reminding myself that this actually happened and that people are that cruel. I would strongly recommend 12 Years A Slave it is a fantastic history lesson, I'm also visiting Louisiana next September so I'll be able to the vision Solomon and see how much advancements the state has made.
7 reviews1 follower
May 29, 2014
****** I ONLY READ 12 YEARS A SLAVE, NOT THE OTHER STORIES [IN MY BOOK IT WAS JUST 12 YEARS A SLAVE]****** Soloman Northup was born a free man in Minerva, New York in 1808. Soloman originally helped out around his farm, like his father had before him. But soon he realized he had a talent for playing the fiddle. After marrying Anne Hampton on Christmas Day 1829, two men [supposedly] from a traveling circus show asked Soloman if he would join them and Soloman agreed. But soon after joining the two men Soloman was drugged and sold into slavery. Soloman served for a number of "masters" some of which were brutally cruel, but others of which he praised for their humanity. After many years of enslavement he came into contact with an outspoken abolitionist from Canada who informed his family of his whereabouts. Finally Soloman was freed from slavery, after this he tried to send his enslavers to prison, but the case was dropped due to legal technicalities. This story had such amazing detail that at times I couldn't even believe that it was non-fiction. So many scenes I could just picture in my head almost as if I had been there, and sometimes that was terrifying, though many times it was intriguing as well. Not only was it as if I had been there but I could also always hear [while reading the story] the narrator. Almost as if he was in the back if my head just whispering he words to me, but it was always in a certain voice and this intrigued me. Its hard to say what else this book did well, because it is a piece of non-fiction. So I guess I have to say that it was an amazing non-fiction book. Cover to cover it was gull of interesting--though sometimes disturbing--facts from the past. Facts that brought me to terms with what had happened, and though after reading I still had questions my mind was so filled with all the of information I had learned that it was hard to actually ask them. I recommend this book to someone with a tough conscience, because this book can shove a lot of guilt on to certain people. But I don't think thats the point, this book is trying to tell a story not place the guilt, so instead of letting this book get to you about things you can't change, think of how you can use what you learned through this book for the future.
146 reviews4 followers
January 29, 2015
Engrossing, and one of the very few books I believe every person should read. I thought the language of the 1800's would make it [an even more] a difficult read, but the writing isn't stilted and it almost reads like a novel with great sentences like, "His manners are repulsive and coarse, and his language gives speedy and unequivocal evidence that he has never enjoyed the advantages of an education."
The detailed accounts of the absolute arbitrary and insidious nature of slavery are fascinating and heartbreaking. Many of the scenes are so cruel and violent that if depicted on film it would seem too slapstick and ridiculous. The workings of the 'system' and how all get caught up in it as 'just the way it is and always has been' is pretty amazing. Not to mention all the religious folks who thought it justified in the Bible.
He also gives an interesting account on how the slavery system affected Southerners as well. [White] Southerners were just different and seemed to settle disputes brutally and with violence "...that would condign punishment in the Northern States, are frequent on the bayou, and pass without notice, and almost without comment. Every man carries his bowie knife, and when two fall out, they set to work hacking and thrusting at each other, more like savages than civilized and enlightened beings."
He goes on, "The existence of Slavery and its most cruel form among them has a tendency to brutalize the humane and finer feelings of their nature. Daily witnesses of human suffering – listening to the agonizing screeches of the slave – beholding him writhing beneath the merciless lash– bitten and torn by dogs – dying without attention, and buried without shroud or coffin – it cannot otherwise be expected, than that they should become brutified and reckless of human life."
In fact you read that when several Northerners come south to rescue him, they are fascinated by what they see on the plantations- it's a true foreign wilderness to them--the land and its slave-owning citizens.
Learned a lot and has given me much to think about as it relates to the current times and inequality, wages, jobs, education and expectations. As well as how women are treated in brutal systems around the world.
400 reviews3 followers
June 6, 2014
This is a deeply touching, interesting and tragic account of slavery in nineteenth century America written by a former slave.
Solomon Northup was a free black man living in the State of New York when America was still split between the non-slavery states in the north and the slave-using states in the south. Solomon was drugged, kidnapped and taken into the deep south where he was sold into slavery to work on plantations for twelve years until he was finally able to get word to his family of his whereabouts.
Solomon and his fellow slaves suffered the most dreadful, inhumane treatment and abuse imaginable. Treated as nothing more than property he was worked half to death, given little or no food, beaten and whipped and threatened with death daily. How anyone survived under those conditions is a mystery to me. Because he began his life free Solomon was an educated man who could read and write [skills which most slaves did not possess being denied even the most basic education by the slave owners] and was able to pass a letter to a white man on the plantation who took pity on Solomon and delivered it for him. The entire time Solomon was a slave he used a different name and could never reveal that he was actually a free man who had been kidnapped. When he had tried to do so not long after being kidnapped he was savagely beaten and warned that if he told a living soul he would be murdered by his 'master'
Despite the age of the book it is very well written and easy to read, the barbaric cruelty suffered by the slaves is a stain on humanity and a reminder of how cruel human beings can be to each other.
An excellent read.
244 reviews9 followers
July 3, 2014
HOLY COW! This book was amazing. So I'm not saying anything that is new or ground-breaking as this book has been read by much smarter people who have a better pedigree to say stronger, smarter things.. see they wouldn't even say "things". But this book written by Northup himself was touching, terrifying, truthful and very humbling. Quick overview of plot: he's talked into traveling with two guys to Washington to play the violin as part of a circus, he's paid well and is about to return home when he gets sick and is kidnapped from his room in the middle of the night. When he wakes up [which he doesn't know if that's the next day or a few days later] he finds he's being sold as a slave. He is really honest and doesn't claim to know for a fact if the men who recruited him in Saratoga, NY, to come with them were part of the plot or not. Anyways, he's sold to Ford who treats him well but then sold to a series of jack-asses. It's harrowing to hear a man born to freedom and liberty actually speak WELL of a man who claimed that owning humans was okay, and godly. And that's what makes this book a great read. It's not just angry, which would be understandable, it's a story of a saga, an epic, but it's treated as an understatement. The people whom Northup writes about are presented as multi-dimensional, and Northup often takes a moment to understand where they are coming from [which is usually jack-ass-land]. Loved this. All students should get to this book and definitely get their nerd on! I really want to do a vlog on it, but can't as my students crawl all over my youtube channel and I don't want to encourage cheating. Go read for yourself!
adventure african-american-lit american-culture
1,687 reviews33 followers
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February 17, 2016
Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave recounts the author’s life story as a free black man from the North who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War South.
The son of an emancipated slave, Northup was born free. He lived, worked, and married in upstate New York, where his family resided. He was a hard working, talented laborer and also an accomplished violin player. In 1841, two con men offered him lucrative work playing fiddle in a circus, so he traveled with them to Washington, D.C., where he was drugged, kidnapped, and subsequently sold as a slave into the Red River region of Louisiana. For the next twelve years he survived as the human property of several different slave masters, with the bulk of his bondage lived under the cruel ownership of a southern planter named Edwin Epps. In January 1853, Northup was finally freed by Northern friends who came to his rescue.
48 reviews
June 4, 2016
I think we are blessed to have such a personal account of slavery from a man who was born free then kidnapped and sold into slavery. In my opinion, this should be staple in every American History high school classroom across the US. Given the time it was written- mid 1800's- much of the more intrusive topics [rape] were not included so even as bad as this writer explained, we know there was much more suffering. His story gripped my heart and brought tears of apathy to my eyes for his plight. I hope the movie did Solomon Northup justice for the suffering he bore and the bravery in which he used pen and paper to bring the suffering of all slaves to light. I am so thankful he left this gem for all of us read.
inspirational non-fiction
48 reviews
November 12, 2022
This, I read via an Audiobook, and I have noticed that the delivery of an audiobook directly impacts my opinion. This one was delivered brilliantly.
Firstly, it’s a heavy story. If you’re not up for something like that, this isn’t for you. I found it heartfelt and engaging, despite it being very much told by the protagonist. This is something I rarely enjoy. The voice is strong though, and this probably due to the kind of story it is, the impact it had on the author [who lived through this], and you can feel that in every word.
One thing I really didn’t like was the chapter headings, or opening lines. They basically listed everything that happened within a given chapter, which I felt lessened the tension at times.
frickin-awesome
278 reviews
May 21, 2014
I had not planned on reading this book and yet, on another sleepless night, I grabbed it from my daughters room as I was in between books and thought I would check it out. I ended up reading it almost straight through. I had already seen the movie so I expected to view the book as a different art form but I felt as if I was watching the movie so close were the emotions each one evoked. The tragedy of slavery shown completely from the African American point of view. Of course it is a true narrative of someone who lived to tell it.
42 reviews
August 16, 2014
I enjoyed this book for several reasons. It was such a detailed account of the life of a slave in the United States. I found it to be so heart breaking at times. It is a reminder to all of us about the horrors of what bondage does to the enslaved, but also to the enslaver.
The language used in the narrative was another reason I enjoyed the story. Solomon Northup wrote his story using words and phrases that made it sound poetic at times. I got the impression that Solomon never sugar coated or exaggerated any of the events or people in his life. He was completely honest.
19 reviews1 follower
August 31, 2014
It was an eye opener in many aspects... like in our time today, somewhere a certain Solomon Northup is still experiencing a slavery of their own... Discrimination is still present in our time now... A certain Patsy is also somewhere hurting with a present kind of slavery... any color of skin or any raise... slavery in different kind of form still exists in our time... and like Patsy, I look forward in a day where everybody is free from their slavery and pain... and free to be who they are without anybody judging or questioning who they are and what their rights are suppose to be.
August 14, 2014
This a compelling narrative with strong and poignant stories. The truths that were laid out in this book were horrifying if one is imagining being in Mr. Northup's stead. Injustice is bound to happen on every generations no matter when or where, but reflecting on his experiences opened up a whole new perspective on how men's insatiable pursue of profits can blind them to execrable act of injustice. Beautifully written and chronologically recounted by the writer, this book is a gem to read, and a classic to reflect upon.
Is 12 Years of Slave a good book?
Twelve Years a Slave is gripping for its subject and execution, and I highly recommend it. 12 Years a Slave is probably the most unique slave book that I've read so far because I can't say that I have ever read about a free person being kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Is 12 Years a Slave a hard read?
In this memoir Solomon Northup, born a free man, tells us about how he was kidnapped, then forced into slavery during twelve long years and finally rescued from such fate. It's not an easy read and at times a bit slow in pace, but the message is powerful enough to keep reading.
What is the message of 12 Years a Slave?
There is a genuine and beautiful message in 12 Years A Slave: people don't just deserve the capacity to survive, but to live. We must make a cultural change that urges us to do something, anything, and everything to end human trafficking.
What are the criticism of 12 Years a Slave?
Film critic Armond White called it “torture porn” and accused McQueen of turning slavery into a “horror show”, and of confusing history with brutality, violence and misery. Another critic lamented the absence of heroes and resistance.