Property
Dec 2007 · Vintage
3.6star
22 reviewsreport
Ebook
208
Pages
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About this ebook
WINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE • Set in 1828 on a Louisiana sugar plantation, this novel from the bestselling author of Mary Reilly presents a “fresh, unsentimental look at what slave-owning does to (and for) one's interior life.... The writing—so prised and clean limbed—is a marvel" (Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning author of Beloved).
Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress.
Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, Property unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, casting a startling light from the past upon the assumptions we still make about the powerful and powerful.
Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress.
Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, Property unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, casting a startling light from the past upon the assumptions we still make about the powerful and powerful.
Ratings and reviews
3.6
22 reviews
A Google user
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June 22, 2017
This book gets 4 stars because Martin ended it so crudely (to me). HOWEVER, I believe the ending was most realistic... I am so used to happy endings. Property DOES NOT have one. Martin slapped me in the face with a cool reality, and I felt stupid for thinking otherwise. Manon is detestable, and Martin makes you feel sorry for her for like... 0.4 seconds. I'd never read a narrative of slavery from this perspective. Very well-written.
2 people found this review helpful
A Google user
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July 7, 2010
Found the subject matter of slavery (women as well as black workers) fascinating but thought the story line and the writing was shallow and the characters annoying. On Kindle 7/07/2010
skye abov
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November 4, 2024
I have never given a book one star before but this was terrible. One incessant rant about a slave owners hardships.
About the author
VALERIE MARTIN is the author of eleven novels, four collections of short fiction, and a biography of Saint Francis of Assisi, titled Salvation. She has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Kafka Prize (for Mary Reilly) and Britain's Orange Prize (for Property).
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