Yonder | 誠品線上

Yonder

內容簡介

內容簡介 19世紀的美國正值南方黑奴交易的巔峰，在Placid Hall這裡由惡名昭彰的奴隸主Cannonball Greene把持，這些被迫為奴的黑人，失去了土地與自由，卻被白人殖民主稱為小偷。 威廉和凱托在這裡認識，威廉無法自拔地愛上瑪格莉特，一個沉著又聰明的女奴；失去戀人愛瑞絲的凱托則沉浸於悲傷，但他發現自已逐漸被潘朵拉吸引。 每一天，他們都活在恐懼裡，深怕自己遭受暴虐毒打，或所愛之人會突然遭到販賣，永無相見之日，但最令人感到痛苦的，是白人認為他們是「動物」─不懂愛也沒有感情的畜生。但儘管經歷一切磨難，他們終堅信自由終將到來。 在每個新生兒誕生時，父母會悄悄地在耳邊傾訴7個字，每一個新生兒聽到字都不同，那些字像是他們的護身符，帶來生存下去的勇氣與決心，故事圍繞在威廉、瑪格莉特、凱托、潘朵拉和柴達五個角色身上，作者Jabari Asim已快節奏的步調描述故事和角色心境轉折，寫出當時奴隸制度下的驚心動魄與悲悽無奈，同時卻也彰顯愛與信念的強大，和對自由的渴望永不止息。 They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own. In a world that would be allegorical if it weren’t saturated in harsh truths, Cato and William meet at Placid Hall, a plantation in an unspecified part of the American South. Subject to the whims of their tyrannical and eccentric captor, Cannonball Greene, they never know what harm may befall them: inhumane physical toil in the plantation’s quarry by day, a beating by night, or the sale of a loved one at any moment. It’s that cruel practice--the wanton destruction of love, the belief that Black people aren’t even capable of loving--that hurts the most. It hurts the reserved and stubborn William, who finds himself falling for Margaret, a small but mighty woman with self-possession beyond her years. And it hurts Cato, whose first love, Iris, was sold off with no forewarning. He now finds solace in his hearty band of friends, including William, who is like a brother; Margaret; Little Zander; and Milton, a gifted artist. There is also Pandora, with thick braids and long limbs, whose beauty calls to him. Their relationships begin to fray when a visiting minister with a mysterious past starts to fill their heads with ideas about independence. He tells them that with freedom comes the right to choose the small things--when to dine, when to begin and end work--as well as the big things, such as whom and how to love. Do they follow the preacher and pursue the unknown? Confined in a landscape marked by deceit and uncertainty, who can they trust?

作者介紹

作者介紹 Jabari AsimJabari Asim is a writer and multidisciplinary artist. He directs the MFA program in creative writing at Emerson College, where he is also the Elma Lewis Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice. His nonfiction books include The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why; What Obama Means: For Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Future; Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Life; and We Can’t Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival. His books for children include Whose Toes Are Those? and Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis. His works of fiction include A Taste of Honey and Only the Strong.

商品規格

最佳賣點

最佳賣點 : Kirkus星級點評，紐約時報、華盛頓郵報一推薦