Muscavado

by Eleanor Heckert

Drum beat out the message! Muscavado rams it home! The big plantation novel by Elanor Heckert.

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Elizabeth McQuillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1975, it's hard to see it as "Black empowerment" with my 2020 lens. The author's Black characters aren't given a fraction of the inner lives she gives the whites. However, she does capture the multiple perspectives of white slave owners, and it was easy to imagine the culture of the time. Hard to imagine the protagonist making a certain romantic decision one day before the culmination of his existence, after waiting over a decade in preparation. Environmental descriptions beautiful and precise--as one familiar with the islands and the particular sugar mill at which EH wrote the book.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very interesting story but written on an 8th graders reading level. Will not look for anymore books by this author. Quite overly melodramatic.