The Known World

This book took my mind on a journey in the past, so happy the past is behind.

hard read but once you get into it then its engrossing.

I actually do not trust Oprah Winfrey's introduction to 'good' books anymore. This is an extremely dull book about slavery and discrimination. History usually interests me, just not this topic - or how Edward P. Jones wrote it to be.

This is a truly important book by an author who is not well enough known. I never knew, even though I was a student of Civil War era history, that manumitted slaves could and did own slaves themselves. The most moving scene in the book is when a slave family is sold apart and all their belongings were the clothes they wore and a few items to pack in a handkerchief. Heartbreaking. This...more

This is a truly important book by an author who is not well enough known. I never knew, even though I was a student of Civil War era history, that manumitted slaves could and did own slaves themselves. The most moving scene in the book is when a slave family is sold apart and all their belongings were the clothes they wore and a few items to pack in a handkerchief. Heartbreaking. This is excellent historical fiction, written in a direct and clean prose style, reads fast witha surprise twist at the end.   hide

An extraordinary historical novel that addresses slavery in the south.

A Pulitzer Prize winner, yes, but it didn't wow me. The story was phenomenal, and I'd never heard of black slave owners before. Aside from the factual novelty, the only bit of prose styling which really stunned me was how Jones would spin out certain character's lives in the midst of the narrative; truly unique.

Very inspiring

An amazing story. Tragic and heartbreaking.

Great writing style and makes for a great read