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The Known World

by Edward P. Jones
The Known World

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ISBN13: 9780060557553
ISBN10: 0060557559
Condition: Standard


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Awards

Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Winner of the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief; and things begin to fall apart: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love beneath the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend estate, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave "speculators" sell free black people into slavery; and rumor of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.

An ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, The Known World weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians, and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery.

Review

"This extraordinary novel [is] the best new work of American fiction to cross my desk in years." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World

Review

"[S]tunning....With hard-won wisdom and hugely effective understatement, Mr. Jones explores the unsettling, contradiction-prone world of a Virginia slaveholder who happens to be black." Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Review

"[K]aleidoscopic....Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy: no relationship here is left unaltered by the bonds of ownership, and liberty eludes most of Manchester County's residents, not just its slaves." The New Yorker

Review

"Jones's prose can be rather static and his phrasings ponderous, but his narrative achieves crushing momentum through sheer accumulation of detail, unusual historical insight and generous character writing." Publishers Weekly

Review

"[A]mbitious....A fascinating look at a painful theme, this book is an ideal choice for book clubs. Highly recommended." Library Journal

Review

"A profoundly beautiful and insightful look at American slavery and human nature." Booklist (starred)

Review

"Vivid....[An] epic novel." Book Magazine

Review

"An exemplar of historical fiction...[it] will subdue your preconceptions, enrich your perceptions and trouble your sleep....The way Jones tells this story...recalls Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez." Newsday

About the Author

Edward P. Jones, the New York Times bestselling author, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World; he also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short listed for the National Book Award. His second collection, All Aunt Hagar’s Children, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. He has been an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in Washington, D.C.

4.6 20

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.6 (20 comments)

`
Witz , June 27, 2014 (view all comments by Witz)
This is "big story" novel that builds slowly and pulls the reader into the lives of slaves who have emulated their masters, masters who have done everything possible to break-down the family unit and and one slave in particular who has became a new kind of plantation master. Positively all- encompassing and breakthrough scenes of life and strife which I remember now years after reading.

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lukas , March 17, 2014 (view all comments by lukas)
This won the Pulitzer and was in a Times list of the best American novels since 1980. So maybe I went in with unreasonable expectations. I did appreciate this story of race and the wages of slavery in the South, with its echoes of Faulkner, Morrison and Twain, without really getting into it.

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Stephanie Winsor , April 05, 2012 (view all comments by Stephanie Winsor)
"The Known World" gave me a new perspective on the institution of slavery before the Civil War. I had not realized that there were a number of blacks who were also slave owners - this book opened my mind to new ideas. One review reads: "[A]mbitious....A fascinating look at a painful theme, this book is an ideal choice for book clubs. Highly recommended." Library Journal. A friend who belongs to a book club recommended this to me - thank you, friend!

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LDH , January 22, 2011
This is the best novel I've read in YEARS. It's so richly textured, complicated, and nuanced it makes everything else look pitifully simple. It's strange in the very best way.

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Mara Lee , November 22, 2010 (view all comments by Mara Lee)
I had been meaning to read this book ever since I read a review of it in The Washington Post, but only finally got around to it last week. It's a magnificent achievement, you feel that the antebellum world of rural Virginia is utterly authentic. And even though many characters behave so very differently from anyone 150 years later, they are so recognizable in their motivations, frailties and desires. I bought a copy as a gift for my mother.

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cvalley , January 29, 2010 (view all comments by cvalley)
I read many good books, but the great books linger a long time. This is one. Genuine characters set in a story told with rich prose. The setting is Virginia shortly before the Civil War. Henry and Caldonia Townsend are free blacks who own and work slaves. There are a number of black and Cherokee slave owners in the area and they are no easier a master than their white counterparts. This is not only the heartbreaking story of life as a slave, but a gripping depiction of how tenuous the life and liberty of the freed black man was in this era. This is not an easy read because of the brutality and injustice,nor is it an easy story to tell. Because of reading this book, I was moved to learn more about the lives of freed blacks in the South before the Civil War. A haunting story of slavery unlike any other.

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esphd1 , January 20, 2010 (view all comments by esphd1)
an epic novel of gorgeous prose and expansive heart.

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Julie Williamson , January 03, 2010 (view all comments by Julie Williamson)
This book took me to another place and time seamlessly. It is a book that allows a person to experience difficulties and trials that are unthinkable without shrinking away. It is impossible to read it and not be changed by the experience.

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MotherGoose1 , January 02, 2010
Really great story--so memorable. With such detail that it seems like history.

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Robert St. John , January 01, 2010
I found this book heart-rending and complex, with moving characters and a riveting portrayal of slavery from a very different point of view than is usual.

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Timothy Clark , January 01, 2010 (view all comments by Timothy Clark)
A powerful meditation on slavery and how a man finds his place in the world.

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Ellen Moskowitz , January 01, 2010 (view all comments by Ellen Moskowitz)
Incredibly moving, hard to put down narrative that takes you through so many traumatic facets of the slave/newly freed experience in southern America. You will not forget this story...truly the best book of the decade in my opinion

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Sevensevenseventy , January 01, 2010
Full, surprising, and beautiful; it expands the world.

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reglaboy , January 01, 2010
An incredible world of such amazing characters that recreates an unpleasant time in American history. A compliment to Toni Morrison's Beloved that measures up in every way.

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jenkabat , January 01, 2010
Soaring, extraordinary-- beautiful. If I had one book to read over and over and over it would be this. Sensitive smart and an amazing use of voice and POV....

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kymdarl , May 06, 2009
I just finished reading this book for an English Composition class. Although the book makes many valuable historical points, I found I was almost forcing myself to finish it. Certain events in the book left me confused and wondering how they related to the subject. I also found it difficult to develop any kind of emotional bond to any of the characters. Maybe I just missed it on this one.

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Michelle Burnett , August 24, 2008 (view all comments by Michelle Burnett)
This novel is on my all time top 5 best novels list. Very rich & stirring story that stays with the reader long after completing the story. I highly recommend this book.

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liz-h , April 08, 2007
I have to say that this book left me a bit befuddled. Let me explain that I chose this book for my book group and I was the only one of the six of us to finish the book. This is not typical for my group. The remaining 5 women found the jumping back and forth in time and the numerous characters too difficult to manage. I did finish the book and found the ending to be worth the effort but just barely. The book has many valuable topics and points. However, the characters come and go in different times so quickly that I never felt I had a solid picture in my mind of any of them. For that reason, I was a bit disappointed. I felt the general topic and the setting should have held my attention more completely. Instead, I was forcing myself to continue because I wanted to know why the book had been so well received. I'm aware that I may have missed something here, but I'm a well read, intelligent person and this book just didn't fully live up to my expectations.

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christijensen , October 19, 2006 (view all comments by christijensen)
I can't tell you how incredibly real this book is. It is as if all of these exact events actually took place. This follows the characters over so many years that you are really seeing their entire life and choices played out. Deserved the Pulitzer. Much loved and appreciated - Thank you Mr. Jones.

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Reader222 , August 26, 2006
Mr. Jones provides such interesting details that it makes visualizing this enlightening experience easy and entertaining. I found it difficult to believe this is a fictional telling of life during the 1800s. It reads like important non-fiction with conversation appropriate to its interesting characters. After the first few pages, I felt as though I was there in the rain and mud with the characters and during their experiences and relationships. The Dramatis Personae at the back of the book was especially appreciated and useful.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780060557553
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
05/25/2004
Publisher:
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
Pages:
432
Height:
1.00IN
Width:
5.32IN
Thickness:
1.00
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2003
UPC Code:
2800060557555
Author:
Edward P. Jones
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literature-A to Z

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