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Jan 16, 2019Magicworld rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I’m usually interested in picking up novels by contemporary Canadian authors, so after all the noise that ensued the release of Esi Edugyan’s last book I was intrigued. The first part started really well and I enjoyed reading about Wash (short for Washington Black) and the chance he was given to escape his miserable existence as a slave boy and develop his great talents. However, the more the story progressed, the more illogical and implausible the plot development turned out to be. A lot of incredible events happened simply because the plot needed them to happen and the un(timely) demise or survival of some of the characters didn’t help to make the storyline more believable. At some point I had the feeling I was reading ‘the fantastical adventures of Washington Black’ – something I definitely didn’t expect when I picked the book. I started to lose interest in the whole thing since the author, for me, wasn’t sure where all this was going, or what her main character really wanted and what drove and motivated him. To finish on a positive note, I liked Edugyan’s writing quite a lot and might give one of her other books a try at some point.