The Longest Memory
by Fred D'Aguiar
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Description
Written in taut, poetic language, THE LONGEST MEMORY is set on a Virginian plantation in the 19th century, and tells the tragic story of a rebellious, fiercely intelligent young slave who breaks all the rules: in learning to read and write, in falling in love with a white girl, the daughter of his owner, and, finally, in trying to escape and join her in the free North. For his attempt to flee, he is whipped to death in front of his family, and this brutal event is the pivot around which the show more story evolves. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I approach novels written by poets with trepidation, but D'Aguiar's tale of slavery in early 19th century Virginia is a masterful work. The rotating cast of narrators are well drawn characters, painting a heartbreaking story. Very recommended.
36/2009. Set book for the Helsinki department entrance exam in one of my teaching years. Even for a slavery book, it's a downer and took me another five years to read straight through. It was originally conceived as a poem cycle from different points of view, and the best lines are poetic. D'Aguiar doesn't strive for accurate research or contemporary sounds/logic but concentrates on describing simple, timeless sensations.
An amazing book that stays with you, especially in today's polarised climate
8495407213
Group G1
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Author Information
29+ Works 617 Members
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994
- Important places
- Virginia, USA
- Epigraph
- I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots.
Zora Neale Hurston
unless
You become acquainted now
With each refuge that tries to
Counterfeit Atlantis, how
Will you recognize the true?
W. H. Auden - Dedication
- For Debbie
- First words
- The future is just more of the past waiting to happen.
- Quotations
- I don't want to remember. Memory hurts. Like crying. But still and deep. Memory rises to the skin then I can't be touched. I hurt all over, my bones ache, my teeth loosen in their gums, my nose bleeds. Don't make me remember.... (show all) I forget as hard as I can.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Memory is pain trying to resurrect itself.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 219
- Popularity
- 148,917
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.90)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 2
