52. An Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

An Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano
1789
Around 260 pages

So right now I am sitting in bed because I woke up with a really bad cold.  I have Good Morning Vietnam playing in the background so hopefully Robin Williams does not make my illness worse, which he has the potential of doing.  However, I did get to finish this novel this morning and have worked up the energy to write this review.  The sacrifices I make for my readers…

All right, so the list has the tendency of representing lots of educated white English men.  This is really not their fault since most minorities didn't have the opportunity to write romance novels…they were too busy being oppressed and stuff (my sickness rears its ugly head).  So it came as a great shock when I saw that the next book was written by a former slave who not only was educated enough to write but actually was wealthy but he married a white woman in England!  Kind of shows how much cooler England is than America; that wasn't socially acceptable until around two hundred years later in the USA.

But I digress.  Anyway, Olaudah Equiano wrote this autobiography about his life, starting from when he was captured as a slave in Africa (in modern day Nigeria) and all the way up to when he was able to buy his freedom.  This is an incredibly, inspirational story.  This is kind of embarrassing but I had never heard of him before.  Why don't schools mention this????

Anyway, the novel lives up to its title.  Absolutely revolutionary and essential reading.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

There is kind of annoying parts about how he gave up heathenism and became a good Christian.  Um, pretty sure the guys who captured you were all Christians but whatever.

Slave trade was abolished in England ten years after his death.

There is a debate to whether or not he was actually born in South Carolina and embellished his African roots to help his movement.