PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FINALIST
A fiercely poetic literary debut re-creating the life of an 19th-century slave woman in South Africa.... read full description
A fiercely poetic literary debut re-creating the life of an 19th-century slave woman in South Africa.... read full description
reviews
Oct 11, 2009
Mocha Girl
rated it: 
"No mother wants to know that her generations are condemned to the life she despises."" - Sila from Unconfessed
Unconfessed is the story of Sila, a slave who is sentenced to fourteen years of hard labor at South Africa's infamous Robben Island for murder of her son, Baro. Sila, captured as a youth from neighboring Mozambique, has borne a life of hardships. Freedom, promised to Sila and her children upon the death of her mistress, is swindled from her by the destruction o More...
Unconfessed is the story of Sila, a slave who is sentenced to fourteen years of hard labor at South Africa's infamous Robben Island for murder of her son, Baro. Sila, captured as a youth from neighboring Mozambique, has borne a life of hardships. Freedom, promised to Sila and her children upon the death of her mistress, is swindled from her by the destruction o More...
Jul 08, 2011
Nicole
rated it:
I liked the writing style in general-- lyrical, kind of stream-of-consciousness, very convincing. Mainly, I still have reservations about the plot; the history is really compelling, but it seems like it's expected to carry the story itself. On some level, I know you're not meant to understand the primary conflict underpinning the whole book-- the fact of Sila having committed infanticide-- but I'm not sure the plot pulled through without at least a little further exploration of Sila's emotiona
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Jun 15, 2011
John
rated it: 
Has obvious plot similarities to Toni Morrison's Beloved, which I had heard about before, but this is a very different book. For one thing, Christianse's book is set in South Africa, and narrates a story of slavery that most American readers are probably unfamiliar with (as I was). For another, Unconfessed is narrated almost entirely in the first person, and the point of the story is not the intractability of memory and the haunting of the trauma of slavery (as in Beloved), but rather the persis
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May 13, 2011
Carmen
rated it:
Set in the early 1800's in South Africa this is the moving story of a young woman who is falsely accused and imprisoned. The book lost me frequently though, as it moved in time too frequently. You almost have to read it at one seating to keep track of everyone. She is a black woman,so obviously she is enslaved. There was also a curious lack of feelings or what was described wasn't enough to figure it out.
Aug 30, 2010
Denise
rated it: 
Snooze, snore, boo & bore! Best words to describe. Or maybe I'm just ignorant and too slow to recognize the intellecut of this book. I attempted to read it TWICE and still couldn't finish it. I'm not understanding the purpose of this book. No characther development. No decent plot analysis. Just seems like a bootleg "Beloved". Maybe during another 3 snowstorms of 2010 will I try again....FLUKE!
Aug 02, 2011
A poetic and expressive monologue by a slave woman on Robben Island. She finds solace in her imaginary conversations. The detail in this book reminds one strongly of Islands by Dan Sleigh and the theme is Beloved-like (as reviewers are quick to point out) but there is no copying of Toni Morrison's style. Slow-moving, yet un-putdownable.
Mar 17, 2008
Melissa
rated it:
The jacket says this is "compulsively readable" and I would agree, but I thought it was a little too long. This is a first novel and I think if it had been written as a second novel there wouldn't have been quite so much semi-incomprehensible rambling inner voice from the main character. Not that everyone should (or does) think clearly at all times, but some of it felt a little self-indulgent on the part of the author. Having said that, I have to add that I liked the book very much,
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Mar 16, 2009
Karlin
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Sep 15, 2010
Melanie
rated it: 
This book makes you ache for the mistakes and misconceptions of humanity, especially in regard to slavery. The beginning of the book was interesting and then I got bored so I hurried and skimmed through the middle just to finish it and then it got interesting again. The simplistic writing style is appropriate for the character and narration, but sometimes hard to follow. Didn't realize until the end that there is a glossary...would have helped throughout.
Apr 25, 2008
Dorothy
rated it:
I so enjoyed this novel. It was written by the author through the diary of a woman inside an offshore island prison in Africa who appears to be insane but is not. The setting ties into post-slavery and has such an intense and indulging depiction of realism for the reader that it is hard to put this book down. I learned so much from reading this book and suggest it as a must read.
Aug 29, 2008
Tanya
rated it:
Extremely profound tale of a free black woman tossed back into the bounds of slavery in 19th Century South Africa. It's told in firsthand accounts by the slowly diminishing heroine, Sila . This is a slice of history many African-Americans aren't knowledgeable of. If you read this you will want to learn more about slavery in Africa.
Jul 01, 2008
kristyn
rated it:
I thought this book was uneven, but lovely through about 2/3 of it. Very sad. Strong central character and narrative voice, but I wish we had gotten more of the 3rd person narration from the first chapter, which was more consistently compelling than the internal narration.
Mar 14, 2008
Carrie
rated it:
Could barely finish it - interesting novel about a girl kidnapped from Mozambique and grew up a slave in South Africa written in flashbacks.
Oct 19, 2007
Selena
rated it:
I could not finish this book. I really wanted to like it, but could not make myself feel interested in the main character or her hardships.
Feb 04, 2012
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