Customer Reviews
Nice book - well written - exciting... - By: Mr. Richard Bristol, 16 Apr 2007 
This is a great book, & is a great story.
It is strong most of the way through, until he gets a bit too religious & starts preaching his religious philiosphy.
It is extremely clear & easy to read, & the story keeps moving at a swift pace.
Give the intro a miss though, & dive straight into Olaudah's book.
Equiano's Interesting Narrative - By: Paul Clift, 25 Dec 2006 A seminal work, & a highly accessible one. The narrative covers the author's life from his kidnappingin west Africa at an early age, through is experiences as a slave-commodity, to his settlementin England as a free human being.
Although he could be accused of egotismin calling the account of his life 'The Interesting Narrative' this description is well merited. More than this though, this is a carefully paced political pamphletin the struggle against the slave trade & against slavery itself. Speakingin the most engaging of voices (Equiano is, one feels, a man whose companyin coffee house or tavern would be sought after; he comes across as a likeable man) we are taken through the arguments around slavery, but alwaysin a very human dimension i.e. we become aware of the personal cost of slavery & not only of it as a political issue. He takes into account the then current view that a benevolent owner is possible, then firmly knocks that half-way view on the head by exposing slaveryin any form as against all that is civilised.
The Narrative can be read on a number of levels: anti-slavery tract; adventure story; Black history; naval history; social history. Incidentally, as a white Englishman I should not like to see this Narrative parcelled up & pigeon-holed as exclusively Black History; this is part of my history as an Englishman & should be on the school national curriculum. The anti-slavery movement was the first recognisably modern political pressure grouping,in that it comprised politicians (Wilberforce etc), supporters (Wedgwood etc), & those who were most directly affected by it (slaves & former slaves). Their alliance held strongly enough & long enough for anti-slavery laws to be passed, albeit over an agonisingly long period. This text is central to that struggle, not least by reminding us that the well-fed Wilberforce was only the Establishment tip of the iceberg, & that alongside such Establishment figures was a vocal, intelligent body of former slaves who had risen against the most formidable odds to positions of influence.
My only reservation about this Penguin edition relates to the notes at the end. For a number of years now, Penguin have been publishing editions (and indeed, translations) for English speakers on the premise that addressing the lowest common denominator (American readers) will satisfy everyone. This resultsin some deeply patronising explanations of the blindingly obvious for example does an adult really need to be told:
Plantain: a type of banana
Stout: strong or powerful
Teneriffe: largest of the Canary Islands
...and so on.
As ever with notes prepared by an apparently American academic, I would urge readers to ignore the notes & just read the Narrative itself.
A look through a real slaves eyes - By: CeCe, 02 Nov 2006 
Whilst this was a fascinating book, & the authors account vivid, I feel that it lacked its focus towards the end due to his conversion to Christianity. It seemed to make the author forget his horrors & at some parts he was almost thankful to have been a slave because he found God!! I feel this was probably a tactical approach to make readers at the time favour his story & help to abolish slavery, but i felt that it distracted from what it was really about which was the horrors of slavery. I would have loved to seen what became of him, as I felt the book ended rather abruptly. In particular his marriage to a white lady at that periodin time. However, it was a good read & a must for all those interestedin that periodin history. Another book to read would be about Mary Prince, which I feel is more frank.
Well-written account of the life of an ex-slave - By: , 02 May 2002 Olaudah Equiano provides an excellent account not just of his life as a slave, but also how an ex-slave was treatedin the eighteenth century. He led an extremely eventful life, but had a luckier start than most because he was bought by owners who actually treated their slaves as humans rather than animals. It is made plainin this an other first hand accounts (eg Mary Prince) that these were the exception rather than the rule.
There is always the impression that once a slave obtained his freedom his troubles were over, but Equiano shows us that that was notin fact the case. In many instances he had goods stolen from him by white menin the West Indies & had no recourse to the lawin those islands.
He had an adventurous life as a sailor, travelling at one stage on a British Arctic expeditionin the bomb-ketch Racehorse, not realising that an obscure midshipmanin the companion ship Carcass was to go on to be known as Admiral Lord Nelson!
I was riveted through much of the narrative, but it became turgid at the end as Equiano discovered religionin a big way & the final chapters largely consist of biblical extracts, prayers, & poems about his religious feelings. In his description of his attitude to Christianity, he became insufferable, with an attitude of superiority to his less Christian brethren & an overwhelming concern for the fate of his immortal soul.
I would rate this book more highly if it were not for the final chapters which I consider tedious to all but the extremely religious. Nevertheless, the book is enjoyable & highly educational. I would recommend it to the private reader & as a text for a school history class.
