Reviews for Voices in Exile: Jamaican Texts of the 18th and 19th Centuries

The average rating for Voices in Exile: Jamaican Texts of the 18th and 19th Centuries based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-19 00:00:00 Mike Haney This book is a collection of fictional and non-fictional accounts of life in Jamaica before and after slavery. It shows the language, attitudes and social practices of people of different social classes. Some texts are quite enlightening in that they reveal the link between Jamaica today and the beliefs held by our ancestors. Perhaps what I appreciated the most is the focus on individuals, rather than general descriptions of 'a people': names, personalities and a glimpse of a day in that person's life. These descriptions are often brief but very insightful. Of course, the representation of slaves/ex-slaves is often biased, which only echoes the social climate at that time. Some passages are heart-wrenching and that too can only be expected given the inhumane nature of the practice of slavery and apprenticeship. I recommend this anthology as an object of research or as a starting guide for further research in this field but mostly as a literary relic and a reference to go back to from time to time whenever you have questions about the origin of current attitudes and practices in Jamaica.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-06-10 00:00:00 Keith Rush Yeah okay, so I didn't finish this book (it's not my fault that I didn't have to learn everything from this book!!), BUT I still think it was quite interesting (especially the part about the tree diagrams). The only downside of this book is that it can be a little inconsistent sometimes.