Books 17 & 18: 26 in 365! Who's with me? Anyone . . .

Sadly, even one book every two weeks seems like a lofty goal with the approach of "The Nutcracker" and the end of my weekends as I know them. But I'm still plugging along . . .

It was a little hard settling into this one. I think they have may have been intentional on Toni Morrison's part. Especially since she decides to start of the novel from the extremely alien point-of-view of late 17th century sixteen-year-old  lovesick African-American girl who's on a mission and wrestling with abandonment issues. However once I found my footing, it was an enlightening (and heartbreaking) read.  A Mercy is a portrait of  America before it was the America we've come to know in all of its ugliness and its beauty.  In addition to looking at the burgeoning slave trade, A Mercy examines the other types of bondage that were pervasive during the time: indentured servitude, brutal religious persecution and the disenfranchisment of women both black and white.  One of my favorite characters in the book was Rebekka , the English mistress sold by her parents at sixteen and shipped off to America to marry a man she doesn't know. I think she was one of my favorite because she along with a couple of "women of ill repute" provide the novel a much needed moment of lightheartedness. They been cordoned off in the cramp confines of steerage along with luggage and livestock, but that doesn't stop them from being  ladies. They stage a tea party with stale biscuits and watered down rum. Of course, taking a shine to her meant I was all the more heartbroken by her transformation towards the end of the book. It was a turn I wish she hadn't taken, but considering her limited option as a woman during those times it was an understandable (albeit unfortunate) turn.

I don't have too much to say about, partly because I don't want to give too much away for those interested in reading it or catching the movie next year. Although I do have to say, I enjoyed this one far more than the first graphic novel I read.  Moreso than the plot, I was impressed by the sophisticated structure of Watchmen and its use of literary devices (motifs and intertexuality) that I never expected to see in a graphic novel.