The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James (Find this book in our catalog)

If you are taking part in One Maryland, One Book this year and have finished Song Yet Sung by James McBride, you might like to try for comparison The Book of Night Women by Marlon James.

This is what it says about Night Women in our catalog: "From a young writer who radiates charisma and talent comes a sweeping, stylish historical novel of Jamaican slavery that can be compared only to Toni Morrison's "Beloved." The book starts out with the birth of a girl child called Lilith onto the blood-splashed dirt floor of a slave hut in a plantation in Jamaica early in the 18th century. Her mother dies immediately and Lilith is fostered out to a hateful slave woman who for some mysterious reason is given many privileges the other slaves are not. The child too is privileged, and as a child is required to do no work. With puberty comes an awareness that there must be some underlying reason for her special status but no real understanding - Lilith is difficult, rebellious, and clueless. We see the plantation through her eyes and we only dimly start to understand the brutality of everyone's life - brutality that differs only in degree between the ruthless struggle for survival within the strict hierarchy of the house slaves or the virtual death sentence of working in the fields. Then Lilith kills to prevent being raped by one of the Johnny Jumpers, black hands appointed as overseers of the other field slaves. These Johnny Jumpers regularly roam in predatory bands through the cabins at night, smashing, raping, and killing. With a murder on her hands the girl is hidden away in the basement of the house by Homer, the slave housekeeper - a mysterious power in the hierarchy of the plantation. Homer is the leader of a powerful group of women, whose power is based on superstition and some connection to the debauched long-time white overseer of the plantation. The women try to school Lilith, but she remains headstrong and tries to lift herself up by beginning a relationship with the young plantation owner. The plot twists as the consequences of Lilith's actions unfold - and the women meet at night to plot a slave rebellion.

The book is written in a lilting Jamaican patois that for me brought the images and characters to life, and also somtimes made it hard for me to continue reading. The images of plantation life are all the usual ones and yet the author avoids all the usual platitudes - there are no comforting faithful and loving house slaves nor benevolent masters. This book is full of disturbing images of violence and degradation. It is an exploration of the cruel and dehumanizing practices of slavery. The degradation that it brought to both black and white. Though it is beautifully written, as one reviewer said, this book will keep you up at night.