Historically relevant with flawed, religiously-biased writing. ( )

Incredibly well written. A must read. ( )

I was very impressed by this book, both by the story itself and its abolitionist pleas. I read this book as an adjunct to [[Ibram X. Kendi]]'s book [Stamped from the Beginning]. I feel this book is probably most effective as a read for someone who, like myself, is trying to understand the issue of slavery better rather than as an assigned read for an English literature class. I found it interesting to finally "meet" Uncle Tom and Simon Legree in this book because I'd heard their names all of my life, but I had no idea who they were or what they did.

I thought this book gave a pretty clear picture of how slaves were treated diffently depending on their owners, but it painted the life of slaves, at least at the beginning of this book, a bit rosier than it probably was. The dreadful and distressing practice of tearing apart black families by selling each member to different white owners located at great distances from each other was highlighted in this story.

The only issue I had a problem with with was its overly heavyhandedness on Christian theology. I know this was a big issue for blacks as they were trying to educate themselves, but I couldn't buy into the preachiness of the author's theology. I also found one reference to Jews very offensive in this book. Nevertheless, I am glad I put the effort into reading this classic story, and I hope the author's persuasiveness helped guide former slave-owners into rethinking their positions about slavery. ( )

A classic first published in 1852 - This book has been on my bucket list for years now. Finally...check! My copy: UNCLE TOM’S CABIN: LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY (possibly 1884-1885 edition), by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This is a little book, no more than 4” wide by 7” long, with very tiny print. I found it on eBay, purchased from stampinsisters for $10.00. It is badly worn and missing the copyright page. On the inside cover page is written:
“6th Prize Jr. 3rd Class, Fred Cummings, U.S.S.
No. 10th 16. S.N. & D. [signed] E. Garrett, Teacher,
Dec. 1885”.
I would gladly mail this copy to any known family members of this Fred Cummings.

According to the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, this story is based on a collection of true life stories turned into a novel that were either witnessed by the author, herself, or told to her by others who either went through similar experiences when enslaved or told by someone who had knowledge of certain events and relayed it to the author.

I rated this book 4 stars out of 5, just above an average read, for these reasons: 1) The author constantly jumped from you reading a good story, to her interrupting with analogies and explanations and sermons. I found that strange and a bit annoying. 2) I found that she was very pretentious in her writing of those analogies, explanations and sermons…meaning, she tried too hard to write so uppity, that at times, I couldn’t understand what the heck she was writing. 3) Some parts of the slave dialog were hard to get through. Thankfully, they weren’t very long conversations.

That being said, this story did draw me into the characters and their emotional trauma experienced by being enslaved. She really did capture the essence of slavery, of a human race that owned absolutely nothing and experienced complete helplessness over every little aspect of their lives. Even if the slave had a good life, it could turn on a dime when the plantation owner had to pay in on a debt or upon a sudden death. They would then find themselves back on the auction block and praying and begging not to be separated from their children, or to be sold to a good master and not be sent down the river to the cotton plantations, which had the worst reputation for having brutal owners. The author touched on many things emotionally that I never have, and never would have, even thought about before on my own.

She portrayed different personalities handling brutal plantation owners in different ways. On the one hand, there was Uncle Tom, who was an upmost Christian and never wavered or compromised his belief in praying for and showing love and compassion even through his turmoil. He took a beating because he refused to beat another slave. Then, there was Sam Harris, who escaped with his family, and would die and fight before letting them harm his family. They were both right! In the end, Uncle Tom's cabin was symbolic for the love and compassion he spread among his people and among everyone else he encountered, whether a Christian or not. God used him to bring others to the Lord.

We learned a lot about slavery when I was in high school back in the 1980’s, but we never really touched on the “emotional” aspect of it, and I wish we had. ( )

The benefits of Christianity, as described here, are so bountiful that one wonders how slavery dared to exist in its presence. The story is so replete with Jesus figures that the author has to juggle them carefully to avoid a scene where they must all sacrifice themselves en masse. The author is to be commended for restricting her anti-semitism to only a single line. ( )