Washington Black

It's the story of young George Washington Black, 11 years old as the books start in 1830. He's a slave on Faith Plantation in Barbados, under a new master. Wash understands instinctively that Erasmus Wilde owned their lives, and their deaths, and that clearly pleased him too much. But we're soon introduced to his brother Christopher Wilde or Titch who will change Wash's life. It's an adventure story that sees Washington off to Virginia, the Arctic, Nova Scotia, London, Amsterdam and Morocco jumping from one improbable situation to another massive coincidence. And read that way it's an entertaining, if mostly forgettable read.

But this is a Giller Prize winner, the second for Esi Edugyan! A Man Booker shortlisted title - clearly reading it as a plot driven travelogue is naive. Smarter people than I loved this so what am I missing? Is this wrestling with white guilt - is Titch an ally to Wash or is he simply white knighting to assuage the guilt he feels over profiting from their labours? Or is this more about Wash's struggles in freedom and the commitment to life when all you've ever known is slavery and the narrative that death is the only true escape? Insert shrug emoji here.

Maybe it's the perfect book club read. Seems like faint praise for this much lauded book, but there's a lot to tease out if you want to put the effort in ...otherwise it's just an unlikely story with lots of hand-wavy explanations and convenient plot devices that makes for a nice enough diversion.

My head-scratching review here: https://youtu.be/uRk8q__uqm8