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The Known World

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The Known World

By: Edward P. Jones
Narrated by: Kevin Free
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About this listen

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2004

National Book Critics Circle Award, Fiction, 2004

Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief; and things begin to fall apart: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love beneath the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend estate, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave "speculators" sell free black people into slavery; and rumor of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.

An ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, The Known World weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians, and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery.

©2003 Edward P. Jones (P)2003 HarperCollins Publishers African American Fiction Historical Fiction World Literature

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Critic reviews

"A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon." ( Time)
"Flawless rendition....He gives each character color, personality, and heft, without ever vamping or straining for effect." ( AudioFile)
"A complex, often startling picture of life in the region....[Jones'] narrative achieves crushing momentum through sheer accumulation of detail, unusual historical insight, and generous character writing." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy." ( The New Yorker)
All stars
Most relevant  
Fantastic, really interesting story construction, ends before beginnings, shouldn't work but really did. Loved it.

Gripping

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It took me a while to get a grip on the story because Jones details each character’s story and I didn’t know which bits to focus on. But when I fell in love with the main characters I was utterly gripped and realised it is a masterpiece. I realised every detail is worth paying attention to. And when I finished I immediately listened to it all over again in case I missed anything the first time. It ended with Hope. The writing is stunningly good. There’s a wisdom from the heart in it too that elevates it above just clever writing. Wow! I would like to meet Edward P Jones and ask him about things that still intrigue me. Sometimes there were bits of beautifully written magic realism that entranced me. What a book. Well worth the work

Amazing characters in a time where human beings were traded like goods.

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boring as hell . the worst audiobook i have bought by far .

the known world

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I downloaded this novel based on the great reviews for the paperback. Unfortunately I found that the style of novel did not work well as an audio book. I struggled to keep track of the different characters and the story was not sufficiently gripping for me to persevere.

Too complicated to work well as an audio book

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