1,001 Novels: A Library of America
Jubilee (1966)
by Margaret Walker
Lee County, Georgia
Georgia: 12/26
Almost half-way through Georgia, and it has been a bit of a slog. This is the last Audiobook- it's all reading hard copies of books without Audio options, YA titles and coming-of-age books from here on out. Jubilee is sure to end up in my top five for this state simply because it wasn't written in the past decade from the perspective of an adolescent. Vyry is the iconic protagonist and frequent narrator, she is born a slave, and lives through the Civil War and aftermath as she tries to forge a destiny as a newly emancipated woman. I thought the Ante-Bellum chapters were particularly interesting, and by that I mean "savage" because I simply can't get over the cruelty of the ante-bellum slavery system. Of course, all American slavery was an abomination, but there were better or worse situation, and the late-period, plantation based cotton growing economy of the deep south was the worst of them all.
The chapters on reconstruction are also interesting, giving the account of a newly freed African American family of some means, relatively speaking, and their struggle to simply exist in a world where they were surrounded by white supremacy.
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