Washington Black (Edugyan) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Thrilling.… Washington Black is a gripping tale, made vivid by Esi Edugyan’s gifts for language and character, and by the strength of her story.… The reader feels honoured to have kept Wash company on his journeying: and moved to see him embark upon his true beginning.
Erica Wagner - New Statesman (UK)


Washington Black is deserving of its place [on the Man Booker Prize longlist]. It’s a box of treats that manages to work history, science, and politics together under the guise of a high-stakes, steampunk adventure.… For all its cinematic capers—there are snowstorms, identical twins, and searches for lost fathers—Washington Black is a profoundly humane story about false idols, the fickleness of fortune, and whether a slave, once freed, can ever truly be free.
Johanna Thomas-Corr - Times (UK)


Washington Black is as harrowing a portrayal of slavery as Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, but it also becomes a globe-trotting, page-turning adventure story. A historical epic with much to say about the present-day world.
Guardian (UK)


(Starred review) Edugyan’s magnificent third novel again demonstrates her range and gifts.…  Edugyan mines the tensions between individual goodwill and systemic oppression.…. [In] supple, nuanced prose, Edugyan’s novel is both searing and beautiful.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) [A] remarkable coming-of-age story.… [Edugyan] delivers a vibrant, poignant tale of a man's search for selfhood in a world where some see him as less than whole. —Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL
Library Journal


(Starred review) Wonderful.… Eloquent.… Brilliant.… Wash and Titch are so alive as to be unforgettable.… This important novel from the author of the superb Half-Blood Blues belongs in every library
Booklist


(Starred review) One of the most unconventional escapes from slavery ever chronicled.… Edugyan displays… ingenuity and resourcefulness …and the reader’s expectations are upended almost as often as her hero’s. A thoughtful, boldly imagined ripsnorter.
Kirkus Reviews