Cambridge
by Caryl Phillips
published
February 2nd 1993
(first published 1992)
by Vintage
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binding
Paperback, 192 pages
isbn
0679736891
(isbn13: 9780679736899)
description
One of England's most widely acclaimed young novelists adopts two eerily convincing narrative voices and juxtaposes their stories to devastating effec...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 63)
Read in February, 2008
I'd be lying if I said I really understood what was going on in this book; when I finished it last night I reread parts of it to try to find coherence, but I rather think that the obliquity of the connections between the stories was the point. There's the narrative by the white English woman who's traveled to the West Indies to visit her father's sugar plantation and to discover the "truth" about slavery; there's the much shorter narrative by one of the slaves there, a former mission...more
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Read in August, 2008
Cambridge is a historical fiction novel set in the West Indies of the early 1800s, at a time when the efficacy and morality of slavery was being debated, both in the West Indies and in England. The narrative is written by a refined English woman, who has been sent to her father's West Indian estates to observe conditions and report the truth to her father.
The historical observations are incredibly insightful, and the vacillations between 'slavery is necessary' and 'slavery is morall...more
The historical observations are incredibly insightful, and the vacillations between 'slavery is necessary' and 'slavery is morall...more
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Read in September, 2008
This is the first of this kind of book for me. So far there's been a narrative from an Englishwoman who has travelled to the West Indies in the early 1800s to look at her fathers Sugar Estate.
The Estate is cultivated by slaves and the book provides quite a bit of insight into the ongoing debate at that time on whether slavery was good or not.
The second part of the book is a short commentary by one of the 'slaves' Cambridge - this was the part i liked the most
Overall, quite a good book
The Estate is cultivated by slaves and the book provides quite a bit of insight into the ongoing debate at that time on whether slavery was good or not.
The second part of the book is a short commentary by one of the 'slaves' Cambridge - this was the part i liked the most
Overall, quite a good book
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Read in July, 2007
As you can see, after having studied art history for two years, I have finally gotten back on track reading novels. Another book languishing on the bookshelves - I thought it was a really interesting novel about colonialism both from the perspectives of the landowner's daughter and a slave. Caryl Philips treats this amazingly sensitive issue with a narrative that is matter of fact and almost scientific not allowing either of the narrators to become overly emotive.
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Read in January, 1998
There is an important book due to its subject matter. Like Toni Morrison's Beloved, I did not find the writing easy, enjoyable, or pleasurable. Nor do I recall any profound insight (unlike Beloved).
But I cannot read enough about the history of slavery.
But I cannot read enough about the history of slavery.
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Read in January, 1992
I think this is the best of Caryl Phillips' novels, a brilliant story of the ambivalences and contradictions and hypocrisies in a slave-owning colonial society.
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A feverish tone and an unnerving atmosphere make it a vivid portrayal of the transAtlantic slave trade.
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