Reviews for Joseph Knight

The average rating for Joseph Knight based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-07-29 00:00:00 Christopher Counts Yet another wonderful novel from one of my very favourite authors.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-07-18 00:00:00 Paulo Coutinho Based on a true story, this is fiction about a kidnapped child, sold into slavery in Jamaica, then brought to Scotland where he fought for his freedom, and won. Too bad we never get to know, or even imagine, him. The whole nearly 400 page slog is about the drunken, conceited, carousing of disgusting, entitled, syphilitic white men. Joseph’s actual purchaser, John, is one of four brothers who move from Scotland to Jamaica to make “their” fortunes. We are to believe that John lives by a vague set of slippery “morals” and is certain he’ll go directly to heaven. The other brother who returns to Scotland is a schmuck, without even a pretense of redeeming qualities. The remaining two die of Yellow Fever. I continued reading - hoping as the last few pages approached - that some of Mr. Knight, who accomplished an astounding feat, might be glimpsed; but, alas, only a trite “ain’t life grand?” ending awaited. My problems with this book didn’t end with the extensive pages consumed with the excess alcohol, pseudo-intellectual convos, and dong drops - purchased or forced by the aforementioned, venereally diseased male Scots. I found the need to look up endless Scottish words irritating. There were sometimes 3 on one page, breaking any flow there may have otherwise been to the story. In a later book by this author, a glossary has been included. I penciled in the definitions of well over 50 before i quit. And there were no women characters with even a shadow of depth or believability. Occasional appearances by giggling rich girls, long suffering but stoic wives - who frequently die - and a scene or two of Joseph’s basically perfect wife. An attempt to create interest in one of John’s daughters is so contrived as to be laughable. Neither were any of the enslaved, short-lived, brutalized Africans in Jamaica given more than one dimension. They suffered painful deaths bravely, and wordlessly. No this is a book about (and for?) White boys. Not me.