All Souls' Rising in Around the World

Feb 24, 2011 Nick rated it did not like it

Nasty, brutish and long. I pine for the days when crucifixion was the climax of a narrative, not the opening gambit, as it is here. I understand what the author is trying to do, I think, and I write as someone with great affection for the historical epic, Les Miserables, for example, or Zhivago. And it is impossible to address revolutions past without acknowledging that they tend to set the devils free. This book lacks either the immediacy of Hugo or the sweep of Pasternak, which is understandab Nasty, brutish and long. I pine for the days when crucifixion was the climax of a narrative, not the opening gambit, as it is here. I understand what the author is trying to do, I think, and I write as someone with great affection for the historical epic, Les Miserables, for example, or Zhivago. And it is impossible to address revolutions past without acknowledging that they tend to set the devils free. This book lacks either the immediacy of Hugo or the sweep of Pasternak, which is understandable, since very few books achieve that, but the structure and focus are also problematic. The first third of the narrative begins in what was apparently the most gruesome phase of the Haitian rebels (with a prologue that details slaveholder brutality). spending its time with a few characters who could have taught the Aztecs something about cruelty. The following parts tend to follow the intricacies of colonial and rebel politics. That need not be fatal; after all, the maneuvers of the Jacobins, the Spanish and even the English, not to mention the divisions on the other side between Africans, Haitian-born blacks and mulattos, makes for constant intrigue, if one can follow the twists. French soldiers and rebels both wound up fighting for the Spanish at one time or another, and the leaders of the rebellion at one time apparently offered to send their soldiers back to the plantations in exchange for their own freedom -- only to have the obstinate planters reject the proposal. The fundamental problem, though, aside from the unremitting violence of the opening section, is the characters. Too many of the men seem either to embody either historical figures or historical types (the French soldier, the mulatto, the African slave) or historical figures. Both seem manipulative. There is a doctor one of whose functions seems to be to place the story at key historical and narrative points. The women fare especially poorly, with the joylessly adulterous Isabelle Cigny and Claudine Arnaud, whose madness seems too convenient to the story at key points. The black women fare even worse, serving the plot rather than humanity. A sweeping view of history is a fine thing, but it does require that real humans occasionally appear. ...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Shomeret rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-reviews, historical-fiction

I thought that the sympathetic viewpoint characters anchored the narrative. Other readers may find the viewpoint changes difficult to follow. I didn't have this problem, but I did find the appended Chronology of Historical Events useful. I had hoped for more voodoo content, but finding out about the political factions during the revolutionary period was educational.

I do have to say that the novel is extremely violent. The author does illustrate the motivations behind the violence, and I did not ...more

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