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A review by louiza_read2live
Η καλύβα του μπαρμπα-Θωμά by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Μαρία Παππά
4.0
I have been listening this book for a few days and I just finished it: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
(Greek audiobook, not the exact cover shown here, but goodreads has only one option in Greek).
As a book of its time, I can see that there are some things to discuss as criticism of the way some of the relationships between the slaves and their owners are being portrayed. More than that though it is a book that its author had a great goal in mind for writing it and her heart was in the right place. Also, there are many complications that can be discussed for these relationships that might not be a criticism for the author necessarily, but one of the consequences of years in slavery. Certainly, it is one of the great books that can generate good discussions that are too complex to be written here in a simple note of thoughts.
The historical significance of this book in the American literature is immense. Before the civil war, I think it might had been the first of its kind. Upon its publication, which I imagine that at the time being published must have been an achievement on its own right, it was in nearly every household and propelled even the people that were hesitant to do the right thing to take action and start speaking openly against the evils of slavery.
It is said that Abraham Lincoln told its author: "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!" Although it is said that this saying might be more of a legend than a fact, it is irrefragable that at its time this book became essential in mobilizing the abolition movement. It was a start...
I had read it in Greece by chance, not in a school setting, when I was too young to understand all the implications of the big issues it presents. I remember loving it. Listening the Greek audio now so many years later as an older adult, it definitely had a different impact on me. I did not remember the ending, and it caught me unprepared. I started crying in my car. I could not believe it. This was not the ending I expected or wanted, but it was one that resembled the real lives of slaves, so it was appropriate for the impact Beecher wanted to have to the readers of her time as well as to us today.
(Greek audiobook, not the exact cover shown here, but goodreads has only one option in Greek).
As a book of its time, I can see that there are some things to discuss as criticism of the way some of the relationships between the slaves and their owners are being portrayed. More than that though it is a book that its author had a great goal in mind for writing it and her heart was in the right place. Also, there are many complications that can be discussed for these relationships that might not be a criticism for the author necessarily, but one of the consequences of years in slavery. Certainly, it is one of the great books that can generate good discussions that are too complex to be written here in a simple note of thoughts.
The historical significance of this book in the American literature is immense. Before the civil war, I think it might had been the first of its kind. Upon its publication, which I imagine that at the time being published must have been an achievement on its own right, it was in nearly every household and propelled even the people that were hesitant to do the right thing to take action and start speaking openly against the evils of slavery.
It is said that Abraham Lincoln told its author: "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!" Although it is said that this saying might be more of a legend than a fact, it is irrefragable that at its time this book became essential in mobilizing the abolition movement. It was a start...
I had read it in Greece by chance, not in a school setting, when I was too young to understand all the implications of the big issues it presents. I remember loving it. Listening the Greek audio now so many years later as an older adult, it definitely had a different impact on me. I did not remember the ending, and it caught me unprepared. I started crying in my car. I could not believe it. This was not the ending I expected or wanted, but it was one that resembled the real lives of slaves, so it was appropriate for the impact Beecher wanted to have to the readers of her time as well as to us today.