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Property (Paperback)

by Valerie Martin (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Abacus; First Edition edition (20 Feb 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0349115834
  • ISBN-13: 978-0349115832
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 369,586 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

* 'A wonderful novel, vivid, revealing' - Carol Shields * 'This fresh, unsentimental look at what slaveowning does to (and for) one's interior life must be a first. And the writing - so prised and clean-limbed - is a marvel.' - Toni Morrison * 'A wonderful novel, vivid, revealing' - Carol Shields * 'This fresh, unsentimental look at what slaveowning does to (and for) one's interior life must be a first. And the writing - so prised and clean-limbed - is a marvel.' - Toni Morrison


The Los Angeles Times

‘It’s a novel fraught with tension, desperation and rage, all masterfully sustained until the bitter conclusion`
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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars ultimately trapped by the morals of her day, 19 Dec 2003
By Ms Alicia Weston (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Property (Paperback)
This book won the Orange prize for fiction and I can definitely see why. Set in the mid-1800s, it's the story of a girl from a "liberal" family in Southern America, who grew up amid a family who treated their slaves well. Married off to a man who is little more than a beast and also avails himself of slavegirls, she initially comes across as a model of modern morality. However a combination of sexual rivalry with one slavegirl in particular, and the constraints of the social conditions of her time take their toll with sad consequences. A gripping tale of how difficult it is to break away from social mores and a shockingly direct historical storyline make this one of the best books I've read this year. The characterisation of Manon Gaudet is very believable and yet impartial- she is portrayed as someone struggling to do her best in a time of incredible cruelty, and yet has human failings and jealousies too.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling and disturbing, 3 Sep 2004
By primitivegrrl "primitivegrrl" (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Property (Paperback)
Despite hating the main character, the narrator, and hating her life, husband, beliefs, actions. speech - I found this book to be utterly compelling. Normally when you read a book and despise the character that the narration asks you to identify with; you can't go on, you have to stop reading, but Martin manages to keep you hooked. Whether you want to see the character come to a fateful end or not, you really stick with this book. It's remarkable and well worthy of the Orange Prize. Now there's something to make you buy - a book that actually deserves its reward! I immediately bought the rest of Martin's works after reading this - praise indeed!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A prize winning read, 26 Jul 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Property (Paperback)
Having read a number of novels over the years concerning slavery, it came as a surprise to read one told from the slave-owner's viewpoint. We are witness to plantation life, set at a time of disease, falling sugar prices and slave uprisings. The narrator of "Property", Manon Gaudet, a 19th century Southern belle, with more than a touch of Scarlett O'Hara about her, is both 'property' and owner. This distinctly unlikeable 'heroine' is a product of her time, whilst hating and constantly rebelling against her own status as the property of her husband, a sadistic and perverted Louisiana planter, her view of slaves as something less than human is chilling. Valerie Martin has created a novel full of flawed, grotesque characters, whose voices, uncomfortably for the reader, seem to be speaking directly from the 19th century. I read that Martin describes this novel as 'a tour of hell with a guide who works for the management' which seems a perfect description from this reader's point of view. From the first clipped sentences, and on through its spare but perfectly written story "Property" is a novel which compels you to read quickly, but stays in your head long after you've finished.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Shocking and disturbing
Shocking and disturbing, yet compulsive reading about the master slave relationship that took place in America's Deep South in the early nineteenth century. Read more
Published 20 days ago by LindyLouMac

4.0 out of 5 stars Unsettling
When we first meet Manon, the main character, it is in relation to her husband. She describes his brutalities towards their slaves and we can sympathise with her plight... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Helena

4.0 out of 5 stars A different slant on the usual 'slave fiction' genre
I very much enjoyed this book, which is odd as I found most of the characters particularly disagreeable and unpleasant. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Allhug

2.0 out of 5 stars A missed opportunity
Slavery is an issue that forced itself on my family history, so I approached this novel with some eagerness; I was really disappointed at the waste of an excellent opportunity... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Cherry

1.0 out of 5 stars shortchanged
I felt shortchanged as I had hoped for a good read (due to orange prize)and most importantly a good story. Read more
Published 6 months ago by msmagoo

3.0 out of 5 stars AS English Language and Literature
I have used this book for my AS level course. It is a vivid novel with in-depth description which is easy for analytical interpretation. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Ms. S. Khan

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pretty Good & Easy Read
It is extremely easy to read this book in one sitting. It is unpretentious and is not bogged down by unnecessary hifalutin prose. Read more
Published 8 months ago by SMC

2.0 out of 5 stars Just not enough going on...

This novel is good in places, but to be honest, I could not finish it. Despite being a short book, I did not feel there was enough going on in order to fill it or to... Read more
Published 13 months ago by FAMOUS NAME

3.0 out of 5 stars Uncertain
I picked up 'Property' from a second hand stall, and the fact that it won the Orange Prize in 2003 caught my attention, as did the glowing comment from Carol Shields, one of my... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lauren Thomas

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable naked story of property
In reviewing Valerie Martin's "Property", the first statement that comes to mind is "cut to the bone". Read more
Published 18 months ago by Louise Amkaer

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