*Disclaimer: This novel is deeply mired in slavery, therefore black and white are common terms used throughout, as they will be in this overlook, so if offended by such broad terms, this is not the piece for you.

Introduction:  I knew little about this novel before reading it but have since found out that it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, a huge accomplishment in the literary world.  Jones books are African American at the heart and I would definitley deem his work in that category, if I were to label it.

Plot:   Marse Henry Townsend, a black man freed from slavery, has died leaving his widow, Caldonia to take over the arduous duty of running his fairly successful plantation.  She knows nothing of doing this, even though she is a well educated woman, taught by Fern Elston, the most respected of black women in Manchester county except for the guilt by association from her lying, card playing, gambling husband but most folks overlook that.  Caldonia's mother Maude wants her to continue running the plantation, calling it her "legacy" while her brother Calvin, who likes the way men look without their shirts on, is an advocate for freeing any and all slaves especially from people of their own color.  This is just a sampling of the intricate web of characters and motives this book contains.  You get a complete history of nearly 30 characters, frontward and backwards, their past to their future all while the story threads through the tumultous times of not only Ms. Townsend's out of control farm but of Sheriff Skiffington's duties as law man along with his own personal demons of wanting his slave woman as his lover, and the dealings and mentoring of the eccentric yet ultra rich William Robbins, a white slave owner who has a special place in his heart for blacks, especially his mistress lover, their two children and his protege, a young Henry Townsend who he teaches all he knows.  And these descriptions barely break the sufrace of all the happenings this book chronicles in and out of Manchester County, Virginia where this book takes place.

Thoughts: This was an extraordinary book, first and foremost, and at nearly 400 pages, it has an grand scale feel to it.  The plot movement is extremely difficult to follow and I'm sure it was even more challenging to write because it jumps forward and back in  singles paragraphs while trying to maintain the central plot of the aftermath of Henry Townsend's death.  A lot of these characters are extremely complex for being in such simple times and you see the same motives, and rationale in these characters that you would see in any present story such as greed (as far as money, power, owning property), theft, and even murder and abandonment (as Moses does when he sends his family off the plantation in a sure fire way to get them killed only so he can marry Caldonia and get his freedom.)  There are a lot of grand and wonderful characters in this novel and I like the way that you see the slow destruction of Manchester County, which is kind of the overview of the story and how it prospered and how it fell into despair and degradation.  There are some standout parts, for my money, such as Counsel Skiffington's odyssey to discover a new life after polio took everything from him or perhaps to find the right place to die and all the strange things he encounters, and Henry Townsends' journey from boy hood into manhood and how he probably loved his slaveowner more than his own parents and what kind of mental attitude you have to have to feel like that.

One of the very interesting things about this book is how the slaves interact and live their lives on the plantation, as most of them are perfectly content with working in the fields all day long, then going home for a few hours to eat and rest.  Only one character is actually brought up as trying to do anything to escape, while everyone else is seemingly enjoying their menial existence, at least as much as they can.  It's not really made clear if it's because of their master being black himself, or self acceptance of the way the world worked at the time or what, but I could see how you could pick either one or a combination of both.  Some of the characters, in the context of the story, go onto become important people such as Stamford Blueberry but I felt disconnected from his story, as well as Fern Elston, Alice and some others but some characters such as Skiffington, William Robbins, the Townsends, Moses and even the cripple Celeste and her husband Elias will stick out to me as meaningful characters whose stories and lives were not simply characterizations of the people who lived in those times but almost as historical figures that really did live and breath during the height of slavery.  I would give this book a strong A and highly recommend it to any fan of fiction that can follow and dedicate some time to this novel because it's not an easy read, there are lots of characters and flash backs and flash forwards and hard to follow actions and descriptions but it's such a departure from all of the slavery stories or depictions you're used to.  And the end, a letter written by Calvin to his sister, is so unique and interesting I almost hoped to hear more of these characters and be with them for even longer; it's well worth the time to discover.

- Jessie