"A slave is treated like an animal, because he is, for all purposes, an animal. Starvation and beating are, of course, useful methods to obtain obedience." Whipping was a common practice particularly on the field hands. The women are raped and "if the female is attractive, or even if she is not, she will be made use of by factors, enforcers and owners." At the time, the average life of a slave was two years if they work in the fields for the men, and less for the women."
Cassius "Cash" Coffin had locked himself in the tower of his mansion after he witnessed his twin sons’ death at the shipyard, believing that a curse had befallen his family. A series of events occurred at the mansion that prompted his youngest son Jebediah, a freakishly short man, who was an abolitionist supporter, to send for his dear friend, Dr. Davis Bentwood, whom he had met while a student at Harvard. Although not a practicing physician, Jebediah preferred to call on his doctor friend because of Bentwood’s beliefs in transcendental teachings of the then popular Ralph Waldo Emerson, to see to his father.
Dr. Bentwood found the older Coffin's true ship log that proved he was a slave trader. More than that, he had read that during the last voyage of Cash Coffin, a man named Monbasu was ordered to die by hanging after he had roused the slaves into a rebellion. Monbasu was a black African slave trader. He was cousin to the King Gezo of Dahomey, the tribe that supplied slaves to the slave traders. But Monbasu betrayed the king by coveting one of his slave wives, a young beautiful black slave by the name of Tambara. They were caught and were sentenced to slavery. King Gezo gave them to Cash Coffin so that they may be traded as slaves and thus suffer slowly before their deaths. Before Monbasu died, he put a curse on Coffin's family.
Although the novel is set in the nineteenth century, the dialogue is easy to comprehend, and not as tedious as period stories tend to be, thereby creating a continuous flow to the story as you read it.
As well, the infusion of historical events and notable historical figures of the time, gives a credible effect of reality to the drama and its characters, not panning the morality of such events or historical figures. It does, however, give you enough to rouse your interest in such historical events, especially that of abolition, the slave trading and even the suffragist movement of the time. Enough interest that, after I read the book in 2007, I researched on the internet and printed out 7 hours of double-sided flight reading materials on Frederick Douglass, Joshua Chamberlain and the abolition, and gave me better understanding of this part of the American history. In addition, Rodman Philbrick used his family’s history of sea faring to full use in this novel.
-o0o-
i came upon this book on the "sale" table of a bookstore here in toronto. the brief summary/preview of the novel on the flap caught my interest. a quick read of the first page immediately grabbed me and heightened my interest. the above is a shortened version of my review done four years ago.
i hate it when a well written book with a wonderful plot does not become a "bestseller"; "Coffins" should have been one.
clouds over toronto at lunchtime. HDR-ish processed in picnik.
amazing clouds -- wonderful picture -- and a heavy book!! Or, heavy subject matter. I have read about this book somewhere else...and once again, I feel much interest. Will have to check into it.....Thanks for all your great reviews (AND pics!)
where did you take the picture from? It looks like you were up high..This book sounds very interesting..a must read!
Love the processing of the many clouds!
@roth - sue, i took this while i was having lunch in our staff lounge, 38th floor of the royal bank plaza; in between two buildings. that's looking northeast. because the building has this gold filters, the colour of the photo would've been greenish blue. but with picnik's auto fix, the real colour came out. then i used HDR-ish to get all the details, that effect is just awesome for shots like this. thanks, sue.
great shot what a threatening sky and the frame is perfect,Were having such perfect weather at the moment and apparently its changing over the weekend and we have outdoor plans.
@steeler - oh no! but sometimes the weather changes its mind. we were supposed to have rains the last two days and it only rained intermittently and last night it was clear sky. so you'll never know. we'll hope for the best. thanks for your comments, howard. much appreciated.
great review. historical fiction always interest me, how they intersect the real with the imaginary. a very misunderstood time in american history, where most people believe the civil war was based slavery and not on economics. people ignore that in the north, children were working in factories; it is always about money. look what is happening all over the world today - all about MONEY. as said, slaves were not considered people. great photo.
@catsmeowb - and it's what makes the world go around, they say. thanks, camille.
@patticake - thanks, patti. this is one of my two long time passions: reading. i'm always asked by friends what good books they can read, and if i give them a convincing summary of a book, they go and read it. this challenge combines it with my other passion which is writing, and the photographs are a bonus.
@pacole - thank you, philip. the caption is too long! well, those are big clouds. :-)
Love the processing of the many clouds!
@patticake - thanks, patti. this is one of my two long time passions: reading. i'm always asked by friends what good books they can read, and if i give them a convincing summary of a book, they go and read it. this challenge combines it with my other passion which is writing, and the photographs are a bonus.