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Hello, hello, hello!
That wasn't at all weird.
Let's get down to business.
To defeat the Huns!
This is not Mulan, Olivia. Get it together.
I just finished reading a novel by Lawrence Hill called ANY KNOWN BLOOD.
WWHHHAAAAA
And by "just finished", I mean, like, 10 minutes ago "just finished".
ANY KNOWN BLOOD is a novel about a family. Five generations of Langston Cane's.
Yes. You hear the story from Langston Cane the First all the way to the Fifith.
From the 1800s to the mid '90s.
So, you cover 150 years in this novel.
It's very interesting because
it's a story about
a black family
and
seeing how
you know, their race affect them to modern day
but you see it on both sides of the boarder.
You see it from a fugitive slave all the way to a man
who is wanting to find out more about his ancestory.
From slavery, to civil rights in the '60sand beyond.
It's quite facinating
But also
the difference between the mid '90s when Langston Cane the Fifth
is writing his stor...his family's story.
to 21 years later in 2016
You know, man is free. You are able to go do your own thing,
but at the same time, how very similar it is
in the fact that there is still so much racism, there is still the killings, there's still all sort of
horrible things happening.
All because of a persons skin pigment.
It makes no sense to me.
In my opinion, we're all created equal.
We all have the same basic wants and needs. We're all human.
Why do we have to judge people based on their skin?
I do have to say, this book had some really really long chapters.
Most were a decent length
but there were a few that were
really, really, really
really long. And I can't think of another word for "really" right now because my brain is fried.
But these long chapters, I do understand why they were so long.
From the authors perspective, and as a reader, I did end up appreciating that is was one solid chapter
as apposed to a bunch of broken up chapters.
The story is told from the perspective of Langston Cane the Fifth.
Langston starts out at the beginning of the novel
you know, he's the screw up of the Langston name.
He hasn't lived up to standards that the name Lanston Cane has had to that point.
That really bothers him.
He's never been able to hold down a real career
he has a failed marriage under his belt
and he has what he considers a very boring government job, writing speeches for politicians.
Langston sabotages his own career as a speech writer
which is actually really funny to read about.
Anyway, he sabotages his own career and then he decided, "you know what? I've alw...
I've always wanted to be a writer
and I'm going to go off
and find out my family history, like I've always wanted to, and I'm going to write a book."
So, the story is mainly told from Langston the Fifth's perspective.
As he learns more about his family,
you can take it two different ways.
As Langston writing from the perspective of whichever Langston he was researching and writing about at the time
but you could also just say it's that Langston's perspective.
I, personally, feel it was Langston the Fifth writing as one of the other Langston's
and telling their story their perspective as appose to his own.
It's a really...I don't know how to explain this. It's difficult.
For me, personally, I connected to the characters.
I really wanted to learn about them, their lives.
And each Langston
was very different
from the other.
Lanston Cane the First was a fugitive slave,
who escaped to Canada
and ended up after about 10 years, I believe, of freedom
he then went back to America
and this was prior to the end of the civil war, that he went back.
And he participated in a rather bloody battle.
In going back to the States, he left his family back in Canada.
His wife and his three sons.
Langston Cane the Second was born in Canada
ended up moving to America with his mum after the end of the civil war had ended.
Langston Cane the Third was born in State side and then went up to Canada
and then went back to America.
Then Langston Cane the Fourth was born in America and went up to Canada.
And stayed in Canada.
And then Langston Cane the Fifth was born in Canada, raised in Canada
went down to America to research his family
and then went back..ended up going back to Canada at the end of the book.
So many Langston's, so little time.
It's a lot of back and forth with this family.
With this book
there's a lot of characters you can connect to because you're covering 150 years
and in that 150 years, you don't just get to know one person
and the rest through, like,
as my great-great-grandfather
did this. You get some of that, but then actually get it more so from
that great-great-grandfathers perspective.
And I think that's very beautiful.
I...I don't know why I find it beautiful, but I just find it really really beautiful that he would write it that way.
I liked it because you got to know the people in each Langston's life that way.
You go to know them on a more personal level.
I really don't know what all I should say about this book because I don't want to give too much away.
This book I found entertaining.
There perspective and they way the novel was written I really enjoyed.
I'll definitely be reading more of Lawrence Hill's books in the future.
There some really
some moments that happened in the novel that kind of left you like
"What?! What is happening?"
which is always a good thing.
Yeah, I don't know that I've said enough about this book but I also don't want to say too much.
I feel like this has not been my best review and I'm really sorry.
I would say, if you like history at all, whether it's
non-fiction or fictional, this book is a really interesting book that way.
If you're just looking for a good story, this is also a pretty decent book for you, too.
ANY KNOWN BLOOD by Lawrence Hill.
Happy Reading! Bye!