Rating: 
Summary: An uneasy situation
Review: It's the 1850s, and Henry Townsend, a freed black man, owns and manages a small plantation in Virginia with 33 slaves. Set against Henry's experiences are those of William Robbins, his previous master/owner, and the relationship between Townsend and Robbins is particularly well wrought. While not possessing the power of the white ruling class, the freed Negroes believed that, for them, it was just a matter of waiting it out. But as Henry lies dying, he worries about what will be come of his holdings after he is gone. Turns out, he has good reason for concern. The Known World explores the bonds of slavery and ownership and how those bonds affect all who are touched by them. This uneasy kaleidoscopic debut novel focuses on difficult moral subjects, and it does so masterfully and with depth and compassion. Superb.
Rating: 
Summary: Mystified in McLean
Review: It's difficult for me to understand the critical acclaim, and resulting commercial success, that this story has received. Sure, it's built around an interesting premise (black slave owners) and obviously involved substantial research, but there are serious stylist flaws that made it a difficult and distracting read for me.While some authors are able to employ shifting points of view and out-of-sequence plotting to enhance the thematic and emotional appeal of a story (The Hours by Cunningham being a fine recent example) these techniques are employed so sloppily here that it becomes a huge distraction. The lengthy recitations of family trees, population statistics and other historical fodder further interrupt the flow. As if sensing the reader's difficulty in keeping track of the characters, the author (or more likely his editor) feels compelled to affix silly tags to characters like "the Night Walker" and "the seeker of young stuff" when they pop up again after some unwelcomed detour or another. Mr. Jones's dialogue and descriptive passages are at times quite satisfying, and one can only hope that he'll find a more coherent narrative structure to showcase his talents in future endeavors.
Rating:
Summary: A different slant on supposed historical norms...
Review: Superbly crafted book about a little known subject. That of free Blacks owning slaves during the days of slavery. When he dies, Henry Townsend owns over 30 slaves, he was a free man of colour who crossed a line that perhaps should never have been crossed, but it is from a White man that Henry has "learnt" the art of owning slaves. Henry's former master William Robbins took great pride in teaching Henry everything there was to know about slavery, and in a strangely warped sort of way, he was a surrogate parent to Henry, but at the expense of Henry's real parents who had managed to buy their own freedom but not of their child. This book is not an easy read, there are many characters, some more important than others, and there is an underlying current of lives both Black and White intertwining in the strangest of ways. With Henry's death comes change, and through the eyes of Moses, one of Henry's slaves we taste life through a Black on Black experience. The irony and the strangeness of this novel's storyline are totally self-evident. A man who has gained his freedom in turn enslaves others. What are his reasons? What if anything is he trying to prove? These are just a few of the questions you will be asking yourself as you make your way through this oddly compelling read. You cannot help but feel a combination of compassion and contempt for Henry, and as the story winds to its oddly unfinished climax, you can't help wondering who owned who, and if the power that William Robbins thought he had over his protege was actually something quite reversed. This is not a "coffee table book"; it is a book that is meant to be read. Worth taking on holiday, but only if you are going somewhere where you can sit in the shade and take your time over each and every single page....
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal
Review: This is a masterful, powerful piece. I enjoyed TKW thoroughly. There are constant shifts from present to future tense, so that the reader already knows what fate ultimately befalls each character before the end of the book. I love how Jones weaves together numerous storylines, thereby creating, "The Known World."
Rating: 
Summary: Complex and Illustrative
Review: The hand-full of genes that determine a person's skin color are nothing compared to all the genes that give us a common human nature. Skin color was a local adaptation to the environment, facilitating the optimum balance of folic acid and vitamin D. This book, while fiction, illustrates the commonness of our natures. The genetically-provided ambition for status, money, and power (assisted by our impressive abilities to rationalize) operates at different levels for us all. Add in the levels of competition, and the scarcity of opportunity in that society, and the room for complexity emerges. A central part of this book concerns a man who's freedom is purchased by his parents when he is a child. This free-black Henry finds his path to "bettering himself" lies through the purchase and domination of slaves of his own; he rationalizes he will be "the best master". The many ways slavery and status can play in such a fluid situation is well illustrated by the interplay of plot lines throughout this story. It is the interplay of the variations that makes this book superb.
Rating: 
Summary: partial review, i am only halfway through the book
Review: This is for those of you who may start the book, and become a bit confused about the people, and their interrelationships. The hierarchy between master and slave was confused even more when "color" did not always apply. I have found it sometimes difficult to understand, as the author writes in a dispassionate voice. I also intend to follow the author's narrative to the end. I would suggest that you do as well; Mr. Jones' research appears to be excellent.
Mr. Jones' book is part historical research, and part fiction, both parts are well worth reading, and make a more complete novel.
I am not sure if this is appropriate in this review, if so, amazon will tell me so, but, I keep thinking that someone who reads this should also read The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts...if you should, great, if not, read this book as it stands by itself
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT PASS GO IF YOU DON"T READ THIS BOOK!
Review: If you are going to read one book this year, this should be the one. Edward P. jones is a meticulous researcher and a wonderful storyteller. In a manner which is neither demeaning nor judgmental, Jones brings the world of slave owning blacks to life. This is not the first novel of an angry young man, but rather the wiritng of a mature scholar who has adapted his work to fiction quite nicely. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: beautiful at times but strangely removed
Review: The Known World has at its center the wonderfully complex question of who is master and who is slave among the various range of characters that make up this intricate novel--free blacks who own slaves, free blacks who do not, black slaves, poor whites, rich slave-owning whites, Native American slave "patrollers", light-skinned blacks who can pass for white, husband or wife, etc. The complexity of the situation is matched by the complexity of the presentation, as the novel moves freely and often seamlessly between time and place. This is not a book to read, therefore, while you "multi-task" or as you nod off to sleep--it requires the reader's full attention. The story will frequently spin away from the main narrative, sometimes for a few lines, sometimes for several pages, sometimes even longer in the one section I thought overly digressive. While I thought at times the author switched time and place too often too closely, for the most part this was a highly effective and haunting structure.
This is a beautifully written book, with carefully crafted sentences and characters revealed as often through slight, small acts as through more lengthy poetic descriptions. At times, as with the digressions, the reader might wish for less full language, but such times quickly pass.
The characters themselves are vividly portrayed and fully so--there are no easy or cheaply shallow characterizations. Good and bad are not, forgive the construction, as clearly black and white as one might have seen in a less skillful, less ambitious work. Sympathies can often shift for the reader, which some may find disconcerting but which I found more true to life and much more interesting.
My one complaint about the novel is that is is strangely, for its subject matter and its events, lacking in emotive impact. Part of it is probably that the fluid back-and-forth structure, together with the multitude of characters and settings, combine to frequently remove the reader from a real sense of intimacy with the characters, despite the poignant situations they encounter. And the closing few pages, while horribly tragic, have been telegraphed in tone if not in deed for so long that they are somewhat anti-climatic in terms of their emotional impact on the reader. This may be a single flaw, but it is a major one and perhaps even one that will cause some readers to not bother past the first third of the book. I went back and forth myself as to whether the short-term impact of the many flash-forwards or backwards (which was often lingeringly sad) was worth sacrificing a greater, more powerful sense of emotional connection. In the end I decided yes, though just, perhaps mostly because it's so refreshing to come across something different. The imposed sense of distance can make the book seem slow going, but anyone who reads it will find it ultimately if somewhat palely rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: An informative read
Review: "The Known World" explores the dynamics of race, class, love and justice is an environment where former slaves become slave owners. At first thought, one might ponder how could a slave obtain his freedom and then become a slave owner? Well, people do what they know. In this novel, Jones does an excellent job of demonstrating how slavery was one of the few means of accumulating wealth and status for many free blacks. It provided a promotion - of sorts - from the lowest rank in the slavery institution to the one just above it. Although black slave owners were able to accumulate greater wealth than some of their white counterparts, the fact of their race returned them to the lowest level of a society where race trumps wealth; where the color of your skin over-ranks every other aspect of your life. This dual existence is skillfully rendered throughout the novel as the characters' lives unfold and intertwine. Jones further exhibits his writing talents by creating a non-linear story that uses character interaction to move the story along instead of a chronological rendering of events as they unfold. This is a complex method of storytelling perfected by very few and managed very well by Jones. So why, I'm thinking, did I initially rate this book a three? As I write the review it becomes clear that it's a better book than that. The fact of free black people owning slaves is an excellent topic to explore. Although I struggled early on with the text, I was determined to finish the book simply because I had not read any other covering the topic. While I knew that a few free blacks owned slaves I have never read much about it. The novel is well researched, informative and fresh . . . all of which warrants a four rating. The fact that I found the narrative voice dull and absent of any distinctive rhythm is the only thing that kept this novel from a perfect five star rating. It required a bit of persistence to finish the novel but it's worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a Book for Every Thoughtful Person
Review: *****
The Known World was unique among fiction books I have read in the last twenty years or so. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I would not call it an easy read, because it was some work to keep track of all of the different characters, but nevertheless, so very well worth it. Despite the work, it was entertaining. Like other reviewers, it kept me up at night, and kept me reading. The book caused me to wonder how I would behave had I the same cultural background as the various characters in the book---the white slave owners, black slave owners, the black slaves. I had always thought before that I "of course" would be against slavery, would fight for rights for all races, and absolutely never do anything so repulsive as to own slaves. I wondered how anyone ever could! The Known World opened my eyes to how this could happen, and how easily one of those slaveowners---black or white---could have been me. Or how easily I could have been a slave. It also provided insight into the psychological world of the slave. All of this was done by showing, not telling, so the reading was more of a powerful emotional experience rather than an intellectual experience. What made this so different for me is that I picked this book soley upon the Amazon reviews and rankings. I had no inherent interest in American history or race relations or the Civil War era, but this book GOT me interested. I think that the only person who would not enjoy this book would be the person who is not open or interested in challenging themselves, not interested in thinking, or afraid to find out about or explore the dark side of the human experience. Because of the complexity of the book, as far as the feelings of the characters, the layers of meaning, and the strong impact, I know that I will read this book again and again, and am therefore glad that I spent the money to get it in hardback. It is well worth the money, and is a beautiful "rough cut" book. I have thought about its message again and again since reading it; I would call it haunting, thought-provoking, disturbing, and honest.
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