I hear references to Uncle Tom's Cabin all the time but had never read it before now. It took me over a month to read but it was worth it.

The story follows Tom, a slave in Kentucky who is sold after his kind masters hit some hard times and have to settle a debt. He has the opportunity to run away with 2 other slaves, but opts to be sold because it is the will of his master and Tom's mission in life is to do as his master asks. As he is preparing to leave his family and his cabin his wife cooks his favorite breakfast one last time. That entire scene left me crying my eyes out.

I think this is where the phrase, "sold up the river," comes from because he is sold and moves up the river. Good or bad, his story continues from there.

It made me consider what it was truly like to live in the south in the 1850s, when her story was written. In fact, the funnest part of reading it for me (if reading about slavery can be considered fun) was knowing that it was written before the Civil War. I learned that some say this book, which was actually not a book but a serial installment released in a magazine of the time, was like a rattling saber, "starting" the Civil War! Abraham Lincoln met her and said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war"!!! Can you imagine?!

The end of the book gets a little too religious for my taste, but I am able to forgive it considering the time period it was written in.

Harriet Beecher Stowe did a brilliant job exploring every persons' aspect of slavery through her tale, which is partially based on true stories. ( )

At the risk of being thought a heretic, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" isn't a particularly well-written story. It's a product of its time, melodramatic and histrionic; and the characters are somewhat one-dimensional: the good guys are unfailingly good and the bad guys are unmitigatedly bad. But I admire Ms. Stowe's conviction. And the novel had tremendous impact, so it deserves its place among the classics.

This is the first time I've read Uncle Tom's Cabin. Like almost everyone, I had heard of it, and was familiar with the characters of Uncle Tom, Topsy, and Simon Legree.

By today's standards, the book would likely be judged too sentimental. The author includes 10-page chapter called "concluding remarks" in which she expresses her own views against slavery, and how it is incompatible with Christianity. This just isn't done in modern novels.

In assessing the book against other literature of the period, though, a different perspective emerges: one of a sweeping tale, encompassing many characters with a strong story of good and evil. Like Dickens' works, it is a scathing assessment of the society in which it is written. In this way, and in the complex blending of good and evil within individual characters, it is a more satisfying than The Book of Negroes.

I am also reading a biography of William Wilberforce, and found Ms. Beecher Stowe's work an enriching complement. ( )

Important, yes; good, no. ( )

Whatever your race, gender, nationality is, just read it. What more can I say? ( )