Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Solomon Northup

GENRE: Memoir.

PUBLICATION DATE: February 5, 1853.

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In times like these when we complain about staying at home, it does our minds well to read books that make us realise what luxury we are still enjoying.

12 Years A Slave is one such brilliant book. Published in 1853, 8 years before the American civil war, it is the memoir of Solomon Northup, a black man from Saratoga, New York.

Solomon was a free black man from the north who was a skilled carpenter and violinist. Two white men tricked him into accompanying them as a violinist for a circus tour and after drugging him, sold him into slavery. Solomon didn't even have a chance to inform his wife or three kids about this drastic change in his circumstances.

It took 12 years for Solomon to finally escape the dreary turn his fate had taken. In this period, all the atrocities that he suffered or witnessed have been faithfully narrated in the book. He even provides detailed information on the cotton and sugarcane plantations of those days and how they functioned.

Solomon's narrative comes across as very factual and straightforward. There is no self-pity, there is no evident exaggeration. In fact, there is hardly any hate, just loads of truth. He doesn't hesitate in calling a spade a spade, but at the same time, says, "It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives." That single line shows so much of awareness and wisdom!

A word of praise must go to David Wilson, the transcriber, editor and publisher of this book. The entire book has clarity of writing and appropriate use of vocabulary. It was a pleasure to read such English and rendered in me after long, the satisfaction of reading a well-worded book.

Solomon's book is an eye-opener on the slave trade of the American South before the civil war, specifically in Louisiana. You will find a few similarities in his narrative to Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. (In fact, this book is dedicated to Stowe.) But just keep in mind that while Uncle Tom's Cabin was a fictionalized rendition of events, 12 Years A Slave comprises facts. That is enough to change your perspective and deepen the impact of the book.

12 Years A Slave is currently in the public domain and hence you can download it from any site offering such books such as archive.org or Project Gutenberg. It is also available as an audio book on Oodles and FreeBooks apps. Go for it. And appreciate the life you have been living in a free country as a free citizen.