(no subject)
Sep. 17th, 2014 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariSong of the Shank
by Jeffery Renard Allen
This finely written historical novel centers around Thomas Greene Wiggins, better known as Blind Tom, born as a slave in 1849, who rose to prominence as a piano prodigy. Although such things were not known of or recognized during the 19th century, Wiggins is now believed to have been an autistic savant. Although Wiggins lived until 1908, Allen focuses on the years just before and just after the Civil War.
Although I found the book a bit draggy at times, I found the story and characters Allen wove around Blind Tom very interesting. Blind Tom himself is much less of a protagonist and more of a central axis or linchpin around which everything else revolves. The strongest characters are those to whom Tom is entrusted over the years: Eliza Bethune, Perry Oliver, Tom's mother Charity Wiggins, and Tabbs Gross. Each of them has a complex relationship to Tom, engaging in varying degrees of caregiving and exploitation.
I did wish, to some degree, that Allen gave a little more focus and voice to Tom himself, and that he would have given more attention to the role of music in the lives of Tom and those around him. I occasionally got the sense that music was somewhat incidental - as if Tom's talents could have been in any area and it wouldn't have made a difference to the story.
Nevertheless, I really liked and admired what Allen did with Tom's story. Song of the Shank is a very subtle and meditative exploration of race relations in Civil War era America, the tensions between exploitation and care or protection, and how talent is treated and managed.
by Jeffery Renard Allen
This finely written historical novel centers around Thomas Greene Wiggins, better known as Blind Tom, born as a slave in 1849, who rose to prominence as a piano prodigy. Although such things were not known of or recognized during the 19th century, Wiggins is now believed to have been an autistic savant. Although Wiggins lived until 1908, Allen focuses on the years just before and just after the Civil War.
Although I found the book a bit draggy at times, I found the story and characters Allen wove around Blind Tom very interesting. Blind Tom himself is much less of a protagonist and more of a central axis or linchpin around which everything else revolves. The strongest characters are those to whom Tom is entrusted over the years: Eliza Bethune, Perry Oliver, Tom's mother Charity Wiggins, and Tabbs Gross. Each of them has a complex relationship to Tom, engaging in varying degrees of caregiving and exploitation.
I did wish, to some degree, that Allen gave a little more focus and voice to Tom himself, and that he would have given more attention to the role of music in the lives of Tom and those around him. I occasionally got the sense that music was somewhat incidental - as if Tom's talents could have been in any area and it wouldn't have made a difference to the story.
Nevertheless, I really liked and admired what Allen did with Tom's story. Song of the Shank is a very subtle and meditative exploration of race relations in Civil War era America, the tensions between exploitation and care or protection, and how talent is treated and managed.
