Book Review
Jul. 23rd, 2023 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe East Indian
by Brinda Charry
This novel is the story of Tony, an orphaned Indian boy who travels to London (voluntarily) and then to Virginia (involuntarily) in the 1630s. He begins his life in America as a badly-treated indentured servant and create a path and an identity for himself in this new world where most of the people he meets are either cruel or indifferent towards him.
The East Indian was engaging enough but ended up feeling a little slight. I liked his journey from having a vague dream of becoming a healer to a true vocation as a physician. His various an evolving relationships with his fellow servants and his masters was also well-done. I was especially interested in Tony's observations on the developing attitudes among the colonists that eventually led to racialized chattel slavery. The writing is lovely. Still, it doesn't quite feel like it all adds up to much more than an interesting tale.
by Brinda Charry
This novel is the story of Tony, an orphaned Indian boy who travels to London (voluntarily) and then to Virginia (involuntarily) in the 1630s. He begins his life in America as a badly-treated indentured servant and create a path and an identity for himself in this new world where most of the people he meets are either cruel or indifferent towards him.
The East Indian was engaging enough but ended up feeling a little slight. I liked his journey from having a vague dream of becoming a healer to a true vocation as a physician. His various an evolving relationships with his fellow servants and his masters was also well-done. I was especially interested in Tony's observations on the developing attitudes among the colonists that eventually led to racialized chattel slavery. The writing is lovely. Still, it doesn't quite feel like it all adds up to much more than an interesting tale.
