A Mercy
Nov 19, 2008
Author: Toni Morrison
Publisher: Knopf
Publication Date: November, 2008
ISBN:978-0307264237
First off, a note to defend myself in case anyone wants to disagree with this book being in the Dew. It is set in Maryland, which, from much polling of everyone around me, all Southerners agreed was not "in the South". But... I received arguments that it was south of the Mason-Dixon and took the Confederacy's side in the "War of Northern Agression", making it Southern. Discussions became heated, let me tell you. :)
Luckily, the Master in the story wandered into Virginia just enough that I could, with a calm mind, review the book.
That being said, let's talk about the story!
This is a story of a Dutch trader, that against his better judgement and his beliefs, takes a little slave girl in trade for payment when her owner can't pay his debt off. Originally the mother was who he picked out to help his wife in the house, but she begs him to take her daughter.
He takes the girl with the idea that his wife, who has lost 4 children, will see her as a bit of solace by having a child around the home again.
The slave girl, Florens, though being sent to a better life, never forgives her mother for bestowing "A Mercy" on her by sending her off with the nice Dutch trader without explanation. She's too young to realize that her old master was already eyeing her with lust in her eyes, which terrified her mother.
This is the story of Floren's life and the people she grows to love and trust, while trying to overcome the bitter taste of always feeling her mother just gave her away.
While the book is slender, it's not an easy read. Many chapters are written in the same way an illiterate child in the late 1600 would speak and the timeline wanders all over the place. It's a task in concentration to follow the story. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it's not sleepy time reading either if you really want to dig into the details.
It's a nice little bit of history with a obvious attention to details of that time period in America.
