Book 10 of 52: The Long Song

When I found out that we would be reading a book about slavery this month for book club, I had mixed feelings. I wondered if this book would have anything new to offer up, given all the books about slavery that are out there (many of which I've read). From the start, this one seemed different. Reading the back cover of the book the voice of our narrator tells us “you do not know me yet…” and tells her son that they should “let the reader decide if this is a novel they might care to consider.” Her voice draws you in immediately.

The story was surprisingly not as heavy and depressing as I anticipated. While it is based in a period a few years before the abolishment of slavery in Jamaica and the few years after, the story is lively and mischievous. These are the same words I’d use to describe the protagonist, Miss July, who speaks directly to you, the reader, and speaks to her son who is editing and printing the book. Miss July’s descriptions of the sugar plantation in Amity, the “big house”, its rooms, the landscapes, and the people that make up her world, make it feel like you’re sitting down for coffee and catching up with an old friend.

July is the daughter of Miss Kitty, who works in the fields and was repeatedly raped by the plantation’s white overseer. July is ripped away from her mother as a child and sent to the big house to be a personal maid to Caroline, the sister of the plantation owner that has just moved to Jamaica from England. The first part of the story describes the life that July lives as a servant in the big house before slavery is abolished. The second part of the book talks about her “freedom” from slavery, and her relationship with Mr. Goodwin, the new overseer of the plantation.

While this book has some horrific parts, Miss July is the type of person who, when handed lemons, tries to make lemonade and to see the good in her life when her world is falling apart. A lesson many of us need to be reminded of when things get tough.

I highly recommend this book. Other book lovers must agree with me, as it was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2010.