Book Review: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: September 18, 2018
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Eleven-year-old George Washington Black—or Wash—a field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master’s brother. To his surprise, however, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning, and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human.
 
But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash’s head, they must abandon everything and flee together. Over the course of their travels, what brings Wash and Christopher together will tear them apart, propelling Wash ever farther across the globe in search of his true self. Spanning the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, London to Morocco, Washington Black is a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, and of a world destroyed and made whole again.

George Washington Black, or Wash for short, is an eleven year old slave in Barbados. His master is an unbelievably cruel man. His master’s brother, Titch, convinces his master to let him borrow Wash to be his assistant of sorts. He’s an explorer and inventor. Luckily for Wash, he’s also a nice person who treats him like a human being, not property. For the most part anyway.

Wash witnesses a white man’s death, leading people to assume he was at fault. A reward is offered for his capture – dead or alive. Wash and Titch flee the plantation and go on many adventures around the world.

Washington Black explores what freedom is. It requires some suspension of disbelief. For instance, Wash and Titch go to Antarctica at one point. The chances that the two of them could survive there for weeks back in the 1800s is doubtful. However, the fantastical elements are necessary to move the plot along and I wasn’t bothered by them.

This book was my book club’s October selection. There was a wide range of opinions. Some of us loved it, some thought it was meh and some did not care for it. I read a couple reviews of it that said it was one of the best books of 2018 so my expectations were pretty high going in and I was disappointed in that regard. However, I did like it – I just didn’t love it. If you’ve read it, let me know what you thought.