RaveThe Christian Science MonitorThough the story is recounted from Hurston’s own perspective, she inserts very little of herself into the narrative, letting it be driven by Lewis. Through the retelling of her interviews, she captures the complexity of Lewis’s loss of his native culture and family, the harrowing journey to the US, his time as a slave, and his role in establishing African Town ... Hurston[\'s] study of Lewis reveals the deep wounds that being forced to leave one’s country and the bonds of slavery inflict on a person ... Hurston’s Barracoon asks us to examine the present even as it explores the past through the experiences of Lewis, the last-known survivor of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in his day.
Lara Vapnyar
PositiveThe Christian Science MonitorThe story raises intriguing questions about life and death in the age of technology. Vapnyar’s story is infused with a somber tone. Although it is a story about immigrants, the novel also poses a more universal question: How does anyone establish identity and contentedness (in an adopted country or otherwise) once a bright future has lost its shine?
