12 Years a Slave

I had never seen the movie for this and like all movies that are adaptations, I like to read the book first. This was an incredible book. I also bought this “banned in Florida” book for my son to read at school. Suck it DeSantis!

This is an amazing piece of American history as told by the author who endured this horrific 12 years of hell. Absolutely jaw dropping, eye brow raising! It’s a very quick read as it’s so interesting and has you on the edge of your seat. A real life horror story with a thankfully happy ending. So well written. I bought 6 copies to share with friends and family!

I bought the book after I watched the movie. Great book, great movie. I think I never realized how evil slavery is, until I watched the movie and read the book.

I love historic memoirs and was very excited when I discovered the movie "12 Years A Slave" was based on one. Every American should read this book. It is a window into our brutal past. And yet, despite this brutality, Solomon Northrup's inspirational human spirit shines through. The man was simply amazing: multi-talented, philosophical, clever, physically and mentally strong, and dare I say it...funny. There are several moments of genuine humor in this book -- totally unexpected, to be sure! -- that prove, no matter what our circumstances, one must attempt to live to the best of one's ability. Read this book and be proud to be in the same race as Solomon Northrup: the Human Race. And don't forget, BLACK LIVES MATTER!

A story that illustrates the hardness of a slave's existence. It was so sad that he lost twelve years of his life and his own daughter didn't know him when she saw him again. Heartwrenching. I'm from Louisiana, and I know all planters were not as mean and cruel. as coldhearted as the one in this book, but I also know many were. I thought it beautifully portrayed the way the author showed the kindness of one to her slaves to illustrate that not all were alike. I can't get over how they only ate boiled bacon and cornbread. No wonder so many grew sick. The only rest and joy they had were at Christmas. I love historical romance and write my own, so I wanted to read this book. I'm glad I did. I read Uncle Tom's cabin as a young girl and my heart went out to slaves and how their families had to be ripped apart. In this book, not only is the man ripped apart from his family, but a young woman loses her son and daughter when they're split up and sold. That part tore my heart apart. I could just picture the mother clinging to her little girl and begging. A well written book, but I didn't care for the formatting of giant capital letters that took up pages and pages at the beginning of each chapter. That is not necessary. However, the story is well illustrated verbally for the reader to visualize. Vivid description right down to Louisiana swamps full of gators and snakes.

Despite being an older book, 12 Years A Slave is not a hard read. I would not say the language is "simple" persay but it is definitely not difficult to read, not too wordy or lengthy or full of old "isms" or long drawn out paragraphs like a lot of old nonfiction and fiction works tend to be. Solomon Northup is very descriptive and was good at being able to set the picture of events as they happened in a descriptivist fashion. Which is all the more better for readers who - while intended for people of the north who probably never saw what Plantation and slave holding life was like - in the modern era are far removed from that reality. I would say the book is actually superior to the movie adaptation in that, while the movie is a great modern take, the book is more accurate to Solomon Northup's views of his time as well as the fact the book doesn't get oversaturated in the brutality of slavery but rather presenting it as it is and also not holding any punches. I would say that 12 Years a Slave is a good read, a definitely good buy, and highly reccomended to all - young and old.

Solomon Northup’s 12 Years A Slave, published by Graymallkin Media, depicts the life of Mr. Northup after being kidnapped and sold into the brutal slave trade in the South during the mid 1800s. Solomon uses his setting starting in New York to represent his freedom before being enslaved and ending up deep in Louisiana on a swampy plantation portraying his entrapment. The settings serve as a backdrop for Solomon’s life by representing his emotional willingness to fight for his wife, kids, and freedom. While I enjoyed his descriptive scenery, what really connected the meaning of his writing to where he was was the way he balanced the good and bad in his life. The reason Mr. Northup wrote this novel was not to trash on the white men of the south but to show that there is always hope in darkness. He wanted to depict to the readers that when things get hard, fighting through it will be rewarding. I agree that there is always light at the end of the tunnel because things in my life ever so small and inconvenient have always taught me something from it. Solomon tells a story about a big moment in his own life and while there are lessons within the book therefore I believe this memoir should not be categorized as any other genre.

If you love to read and consider yourself an admirer of American history, good and bad, you should have this book in your library. The author, yes the author, takes you on a colorful personal journey that really should be one of the country’s best literary nonfiction works when considering Americans who personally beat the odds, experienced triumph over tragedy and celebrated victory over defeat. This one has staying power.

Great book, easy to be read. I watched the movie on a few occasions and decided to purchase the book.

Not written from the movie, rather his memoirs from years ago. Quite dry, and hard to get into.

J'ai bien aimé ce livre et reçu les larmes aux yeux. Le niveau d'anglais est plutôt élevé mais on y arrive comme même à lire.

This story is non-fiction. In July 1808 Solomon Northup, a Black man, was born in New York State. In 1829 he married; he and his wife had three children. They were an ordinary family, living, working, being schooled in freedom in the northern states of the US. In 1841, Solomon became an innocent victim of what we today would call a scam. Supposed business associates in Washington DC (at the time a slave trading city) drugged, kidnapped and dragged him to a slave pen. In chains he was sold at a slave market in New Orleans and eventually ended up at the cotton plantations in the bayous running off Red River, an offshoot of the Mississippi. Most of the book is about Solomon's time as a slave on the bayous, the almost unbelievably bad treatment he received and witnessed, with vivid characterisations of his fellow slaves and his "owners." In 1853, he became free again, having received help in proving he had been born a free man of the North. This is a truly horrifying and gripping story; descriptions of slave life, labour and punishment are vivid and unforgettable. Solomon Northup wrote beautiful, old-fashioned English which fills me with delight (if only American English today could be as good as his was!), and his book teaches readers much about US history that many of us may not have known. An important book, very highly recommended.

this is not a book you can love but it happened,it is true,i found it hard to believe one human being could treat another human being like Solomon was treated in the so called greatest country in the world