Dessa Rose: A Novel

A really hard book to read. This author took two woman in history and combined their stories into a work of fiction. First Dessa is a slave who lead a revolt and was waiting to birth a slave baby and then she was to be put to death. The second woman Ruth, was a woman in history that lived on an isolated farm that took in runaway slaves. Combine these two women and events and you have a work of fiction,and what if they had met, how would their stories have changed. A really good fiction book. It was kinda hard to keep up with what all was going on or who was speaking or telling the story at times. It is a book that I am glad I read and gives one a lot to think about. Wish their was another book about their trip west and how they ended up escaping slavery and the slave states.

Wow! This book takes you back in history to place most of us prefer not to think about. You are there living the torture inflicted on slaves. And then there is a white woman who allows run away slaves to stay at her plantation. Such an interesting and different relationship she has with each of the slaves there. Highly recommend to all readers, but definitely African American women.

This is not the complete book. Some parts are left out as the story progresses, which I know from following along in my physical copy of the book. These omissions could be due to editing as the years have advanced, given the copyright date of my copy from the 70s. Still, if you have to read this book for class, you'll want to just read it straight and skip this audiobook.

I enjoyed Dessa Rose. The struggle of slavery, the depth of feeling from the runaways is all there. As a white reader, this opened my eyes further.

As expected

Very descriptive and beautifully written. Slavery was not just an institution but a collection of shattered lives, told through the voices of two courageous women, during a time where women did not count Black or White

Uniquely and wonderfully written

Great book! The author takes you through a fragile time period makes you feel like you lived through it. I love history.

I will treasure this book.Read it in a 2 hour sitting! completely engrossing.I was there with the characters all the way

very good and as described

Si se puede señalar alguna tendencia clara en el rico y variopinto panorama de las letras afro-americanas en la actualidad es la importancia y preeminencia de la literatura escrita por mujeres. Estas escritoras han adquirido creciente visibilidad, sobre todo en la última decada gracias a dos acontecimientos cruciales: El premio Nobel que Toni Morrison obtiene en 1993 y la designación de Rita Dove como la poeta laureada de Estados Unidos el mismo año.Muchas escritoras vuelven la vista atrás al período de esclavitud para explorar el modo en el que determinados estereotiposracistas contra las mujeres se crean, estereotipos que perduran en muchos casos hasta hoy día. Como Hazel Carby comenta: "La institución de la esclavitud es considerada actualmente como la fuente de los estereotipos sobre la mujer negra".Entre las escritoras que vuelven al periodo de esclavitud para cuestionar el legado racista de este pasado está, por ejemplo, Sheriey Anne Williams en Dessa Rose (1986), obra basada en dos incidentes históricos: el primero, una esclava embarazada que ayudó a una sublevación de un grupo de esclavos que eran conducidos al mercado para ser vendidos, y que más tarde seria ajusticiada después del nacimiento de su bebé; y el segundo, una mujer blanca que proporcionaba refugio a los esclavos fugados. La escritora realiza un encuentro ficticio entre ambas mujeres y el resultado es una creciente amistad en la que cada una de las mujeres descubre la humanidad de la otra, dejando al lado los prejuicios y estereotipos socialmente inculcados. Aunque al principio ambas mujeres demuestran una clara falta de confianza en la otra, incluso manifestando celos; muy pronto las une su condición de mujeres y consiguen reconocerse en su individualidad, por lo que terminan cimentando verdaderos lazos de afecto entre ambas, a pesar de los múltiples obstáculos que se plasman incluso al final de la obra: "No pudimos abrazamos, no en la calle, no en Arcopolis, no incluso después de oscurecer; las dos reteníamos bastante sentido común para saberlo. La ciudad podía incluso prohibimos reír; pero aquella noche caminamos juntas y no escondimos nuestras sonrisas (256)"