Washington Black by Esi Edugyan is one of the most under-appreciated books of 2019. While this book has gotten around on the Booktube community and on a few Instagramers’ book channels, it hasn’t made a splash in mainstream BookTube. I haven’t really seen many Booktubers taking the time to read the novel; and when they did receive the arc, they acted like the book was going to be a boring race novella. Perhaps the publishing companies should have sent the copies to Youtubers who read Black authors. I’m not saying that it’s racism that’s preventing this book from being a hit on BookTube, but it’s definitely a curious case that Booktubers are more willing to read the same historical settings through a white person’s perspective. I’m not the only person to point out BookTubers lack of reviewing and including people of color stories in their channel. Sure, they are willing to read LGBTQ+ novels during Pride month, but when it comes to black history month…there is squat. When it comes to LGBTQ+ of color, there is still barely anything.

Washington Black is a beautiful example of a black character who suffered gravely in his life, and who’s story triumphs race. The book is set in the 1800s in the Caribbean, Canada, London, and partially Morocco; there is no getting around the race issue in this book. The character faces beatings and prejudice because of his race. The wonderful note of this book isn’t Washington following a White master or White man around, even though he is taken from the plantation at a young age and sparred the terrible conditions. His life lacks closure, he was taken without closure and abandon in the Artic to essentially fend for himself. An educated Black child who talks like an “Englishman”, that ends up creating a wonderful technology in Zoology but understands that it means nothing to the world that a Black man created this wonderful invention that we enjoy today. This book is about a man who needed closure from a White man who took him away from everything he knows. That used him as a feel-good brownie point, even though Christopher Wilde loves Washington, he never thought of him as an equal. You see Washington dealing with this closure throughout his life, it isn’t until he runs into a slave catcher who has been after him for years that he realizes that he needs is closure.

I found the writing style interesting; the book is written through Black’s perspective. Yet we find out a lot about each character’s background through dialogue and flashbacks. The dialogue makes the reader feel like we are witnessing the exchange in person. As a Black man in the 1800s, Washington is treated like furniture because of this he is told personal information. The author was able to use the racism of the 1800s and forge a unique literally style for her characters.  I thought the use of objectification racism unique compared to other books written about this time period.

I could go on about this book, it is a wonderful book and does deserve its place in the New York Times 10 best books list. If you need a book to curl up and read on the weekend, this is the book for you.