Washington Black

Washington Black 
by Esi Edugyan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"From the sultry cane fields of the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, Washington Black tells a story of friendship and betrayal, love and redemption, of a world destroyed and made whole again--and asks the question, what is true freedom?" - publisher's blurb

There is a very 19th-century-novel feel to the style of this book which I thought suited the story very well. Washington Black is an interesting narrator as he moves into greater levels of understanding of the world around him as the book progresses. He has a strong character which allows him to face terrible things without falling apart (and thus to carry the reader through these events as well). This is a skillfully crafted and fascinating novel.

Esi Edugyan lives in Victoria, British Columbia so I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge. Another of her books, Half-Blood Blues, has been on my TBR for a while and I am looking forward to reading it.