#43 The Known World by Edward P. Jones

I picked this up because it won the Pulitzer and I've been mostly impressed with the new-ish winners. Also a reviewer compared it favorably to Beloved, which I now hold to be a great example of why I shouldn't trust reviews printed directly on the book that I am thinking about reading.

Maybe it's my fault, I never got really engrossed in the story but went through the motions of reading because I hoped that it might get more interesting, but it didn't. Finally, I knew that I was never going to be involved with the story when a prominent character is sold back into slavery, after being free for many years and not even a sniffle came from me, which is truly saying a lot in light of my recent confessions.

It was sort of interesting how the author created a whole county in Virgina with "facts" about the census, its inhabitants, and its place in history. But that's what fiction is supposed to be in end the anyway, right? An elaborate web of lies (Am I turning into Plato here?). Perhaps my hopes were too high for it. i know that I won't trust the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's book reviews anymore though.

Onwards and forwards, folks. Seven more to go.