Marlon James
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James is a sweeping masterpiece set in a late eighteenth century Jamaican sugar plantation. The central character is a slave named Lilith.
Born into slavery, Lilith is singled out because of her green eyes. She is fortunate in that she is not required to perform the back-breaking task of working in the fields. As soon as she is old enough, Lilith becomes a house slave at the Montpelier Estate. There she interacts with other house slaves and is taken under the wing by Homer, the female head house slave. She experiences close-up the inhuman and demeaning treatment of slaves by slave-owners and overseers. She recognizes the hierarchy among slaves and sees how they are pitted against each other. Eventually, she becomes embroiled in a slave plot to rebel against the slaveowners.
In addition to describing the horrific conditions of slavery, this coming of age story shows Lilith struggling to understand herself and her identity as a woman and a slave. She feels torn between two cultures, aspiring to be recognized and treated as a desirable young woman but constantly being reminded of how she is perceived as nothing more than chattel. Her back is riddled with scars as a result of the frequent lashings she receives. She witnesses the unimaginable brutality perpetrated on slaves. She gravitates between hatred for slaveowners and a strong desire for acceptance, recognition, and love. Her feelings become increasingly conflicted when she finds herself developing a push and pull attachment to the Irish overseer who shows her tenderness and consideration.
The novel bristles with detailed and graphic description of unimaginable acts of physical and sexual violence. Frequent references to human body parts, especially female body parts, punctuate the narrative. Limbs are cut, torsos are lashed, flesh is burned, eyes are gouged, heads are severed, and every orifice of the human body is raped, tortured, or both. Marlon James does not sugar-coat the violence. His explicit descriptions are not for the faint-hearted.
What makes this novel an astounding achievement is the narrative voice, the identity of which remains a mystery until the end. The narrative unfolds in the rhythm, dialect, and syntax of Jamaican English. The dialogue is rendered realistically. James captures the ebb and flow of the vernacular so adroitly that one gets the sense of overhearing an actual conversation.
A narrative voice that is spell-binding; a cast of well-developed, strong, and highly complex female characters; description that immerses the reader in time and place; and an intricate plot that captivates from beginning to end—these are just some of the factors that make this a remarkable achievement.
Very highly recommended.