Uncle Tom's Cabin

Rating:
Summary: A Book With A Purpose
Review: The book Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written for a purpose; it was not meant to be merely entertaining for its readers. Stowe wrote it in order to show its readers how awful and degrading slavery is to people and mankind. Harriet Beecher Stowe hated the "peculiar institution," and she wanted others to see why she hated it. It is an entertaining and exciting book that causes readers to feel as if they are a part of the story. The way it is written allows readers almost be able to relate to the slaves and feel the torture and pain that they felt in the story. The slave owners were portrayed as heartless devilish men, and the slaves were portrayed as their victims. Readers are able to feel emotions towards many of the characters. For instance, readers end up hating Simon Legree, the cruel slave owner. They feel pity and sadness when he treats Tom, the good, unfortunate slave, cruelly. Another example is of the feeling of love and pity that readers tend to feel towards the saintlike child, Eva. Though Stowe's writing came across as preachy at times, I found the book to be very well written with a clever plot. It is educational to its readers by helping them to see the way life was for different people in the time period in which the book took place. The book was a bestseller when it was first released to the public. It caused much conflict and uproar over the subject of slavery. In many cases Stowe's reason for writing the book served its purpose. Many people became supporters of abolition because of this book. It was interesting for me to read it knowing that it was one of the causes of our country's Civil War. I could understand why it caused so much controversy between the North and the South when I read it. Uncle Tom's Cabin is definately interesting and worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Really good book!
Review: Although a slow beginning make's Uncle Tom's Cabin seem boring, the story soon picks up when Tom's kind-hearted owner is forced to separate him from the only home he has ever know to fulfill a debt to a cruel slave driver. As you follow Tom through his travels, the horrors of slavery are revealed: Tom is seldom allowed to be out of sight of his new "owner" with out shackles. Stowe has written a wonderful book with real, believable characters. This is a definite must-read!

Rating:
Summary: Uncle Toms Cabin
Review: I hope you will send it pr. post, and a note, so I can pay pr. note,NOT with cash! It`s a firma, and I have no money. You see? Helst skulle jeg ønsket en norsk utgave av "Onkel Toms hytte" - see? I wanted a Norwegian film, but I think that is not possible. Call me pr. mail, if something is "uklart", not clear. Hilsen

Mildrid Skogly Pedersen Pedagogisk senter 2440 Engerdal Norway Tlf. 624 58105

Rating:
Summary: A historical fiction book on slavery in America.
Review: Harry Shelby, a young mulatto slave boy, dances for a slave boy and his master, and the trader is laughing with glee. He decides he could fetch a good price for this boy. Eliza, Harry's mother; and George, his proud father; feel forced into action, fleeing from kind masters to Canada. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom, as everyone calls the pious old slave, is sold into the terrible hands of Simon of Legree. Tom is unfased, however, because if he dies he will be with Jesus, his Saviour. This book is for people who like historical fiction with an adventourous twist.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book; makes want to be called an 'Uncle Tom'
Review: Uncle Tom's cabin is an excellent book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I could identify with every character. I was uplifted by the strong faith of Tom. I believe that Tom's faith would be looked down upon, today, but I would like to look at people like Jesus does. I think that this book helped me to realize a small bit the struggle we as black people had to endure just to try to keep our families together. I think that everyone should read this book!

Rating:
Summary: one of the best books of all time
Review: Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic novel about Uncle Tom and the evils of slavery in the United States is perhaps the greatest novel ever written. It is superb in every way. Stowe's storytelling abilities are simply unbelievable. Obviously, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its intense emotional impact on the reader is simply unbelievable: it can make you cry, laugh, and feel every emotion that the characters do. I urge every single person alive to read this book. I was not forced to read it; I thought it might be interesting. Well, I was beyond delighted. If you haven't read it and you're not sure about buying it, then go check it out of the library so that you can read the most emotional book ever written.

Rating:
Summary: Entertainment with an urgent moral purpose
Review: For 30 years my only knowledge of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" came through the awkward filter of a brief scene in the movie, "The King and I." In that movie from the 1950s, Siamese actors present a beautiful but caricatured version of Stowe's book- like the minstrel shows of the nineteenth century which made Uncle Tom into an obsequious cliche. These dramatizations have probably done much to obscure the true value of this narrative. Stowe's characters are richly drawn and highly complex. The characters of Uncle Tom, Ophelia, and Mr. St. Clare are some of the most vivid, precisely drawn characters in literature.

The conversations between Ophelia and her cynical, slaveholding cousin from the South encapsulated perfectly the heated debate in this country about the "peculiar institution" of slavery. And, while Stowe attacks the South for its tolerance of this demonaical practice, she does not hesitate to point out the hypocrisy of the North. Northerners, she states, condemn the South for slavery, but they themselves want little or nothing to do with blacks or their rehabilitation. (Little Topsy becomes the perfect metaphor for the challenge of reconstruction.)

This novel also reminds us of the dominance of faith and the Bible in the nineteenth century, making much of the text feel- to us in the twentieth century- preachy or overly didactic. It's an odd combination of story and moral jeremaid, but its ultimate purpose was to incite action, not to entertain. Utimately, it managed to do both.

Rating:
Summary: A great piece of literature
Review: Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of the best books I have ever read. You laugh with it, you cry with it... I felt as though I was tight there with Eliza on her frightful journey... I was crying with Tom when Augustine St. Clare's family fell apart. Some people think that old books are boring, and I have to admit that before I started reading this I thought it would drag on and on, boy once I started reading I couldn't put it down. Anyone who appriciates a good book should definintley read this. And believe me, DO NOT judge this book by it's cover or by the southern accent that is hard to understand at first. But after the first chapter, I was totally enthrolled in this book. This book is great and you will not regret spending your money on this. This will be a book that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Rating:
Summary: captures the essence of slavery but not the realities
Review: There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel has been unequaled in its vast political influence. However, it contains one major flaw. Although the book treats slavery with a simple and determined resolution, and reduces slavery to what it really was (EVIL), the book ends with a happy and most improbable ending. Stowe might have been attempting to show that ultimately, good reigns over evil, but the message of the extreme urgency of the abolitionist movement is lost in the fairy tale ending.

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL!
Review: I think this book was the best book I ever read! I had to read it for an english term paper and at first I was skeptical but after the first few pages I was hooked. I couldn't keep it down. I cried so much for the beatings and when little Eva died. Actually, I still get teary-eyed. EVERYONE should read this book!