I will be interviewed on IJustFinished.com tomorrow morning, 8 am Pacific time.  This is blogtalkradio and we will be discussing SWEETSMOKE (ahem, obviously).  It will be live, and I’ll try not to muck it up. 

Meet me at Borders Westwood, September 10th, Wednesday, at 7 pm. 

Title: Sweetsmoke
Author: David FullerRating: (5)

Review by: MissPerf

ISBN 978-1-4013-2331-8

Sweetsmoke is the

Virginia tobacco plantation where slave Cassius is born and raised. The time is 1862, early in the Civil War and, so far, the South is winning. Cassius has a complex love-hate relationship with master Hoke Howard, a key element of the story. Cassius earlier had been whipped severely by Hoke and brought back to health and taught to read by the freed slave Emoline. Early in the story Emoline has been killed and Cassius vows revenge on the murderer. This is a complex mystery which is slowly unraveled over the course of the book. We are introduced to the savagery and complexity of slavery as well as a unique perspective on the Civil War. Before the end of the book Cassius stumbles on to the Battle of Antietam, still the bloodiest day in American history. Seen through the eyes of Cassius, this is a powerful and fascinating portrayal of war at its most savage. The book is a brilliant look at slavery and war, all from the unique perspective of a talented slave who learns how to survive in a hostile world. This is Fuller’s first novel, presumably the first of many. I will certainly put his name on my must read list.

Borders Westwood — Wednesday, September 10th, at 7 pm.  Signing and discussion. 

Got that, Heather? 

Although I rarely respond aloud to reviews, a rather good recent post took issue with a number of things in the novel that seemed, to the reviewer, to be a stretch.  I would like to respond, as the reviewer was intelligent and thoughtful.

He writes:    

The reader is asked to believe, for instance, that Cassius, a man who had just a few days in which to learn how to read and write, is able to do both so well that he is able to comprehend all the nuances of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar when he steals his master’s copy of the play and to forge the passes he needs to seemingly authorize his travel away from Sweetsmoke on his own.

In fact, Cassius begins to learn to read over a three week time period back in 1857.  That was five years before the novel begins, and in the ensuing five years, Cassius continues his reading education with Emoline (you can find that information on page 48).  I took liberties with the timing of Cassius coming into contact with the texts of THE ILIAD as well as JULIUS CAESAR.  All writers learn to telescope time from Shakespeare, and I wanted to give the reader an opportunity to experience Cassius’s initial attempts to grapple with Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer, so I placed this within the context of the narrative.  Realistically, he would have been likely to read THE ILIAD earlier, with Emoline’s assistance.  But I took the liberty as I wanted the reader to experience Cassius’s first encounter with the god Apollo.  Five years seems to me to be more than enough time to take on a first reading of Julius Caesar, as well as more than enough time to learn to forge passes. 

But perhaps the book’s biggest stretch is the relative ease with which Cassius makes his way to Lee’s army in Maryland and back to the plantation. If it had been this easy to cross into a Union state in 1862 there would likely have been no slaves left in the South by the end of the war some three years later.

It is important to understand how things worked at that time.  There was a surprising amount of travel by slaves, from plantation to plantation, for instance, particularly if a slave had an ‘abroad’ wife or husband, or into town on errands for the master.  They would carry a pass from the master during those journeys.  Slaves would sneak off the plantation at night to hunt for food to supplement their diets, slipping into the woods to check their traps.  Slaves had multiple opportunities to run.  So why didn’t they?  Slaves were controlled by fear.  Fear was their constant companion, fear of the law, fear of the patrollers, fear of the master and the overseer.  Fear was drilled into them by random violence, by the teaching of religion and by the threat of losing their loved ones through sales to other states or plantations.  Slaves were kept ignorant intentionally, which expanded their sense of fear.  Knowledge is power, and Cassius’s knowledge increases as he learns to read.  Cassius overcomes his ignorance of the world beyond the rim of Sweetsmoke by taking Hoke’s maps.  He has help reaching the railroad, traveling in the company of a freed slave who is well-known throughout the area, and, of course, through that part of the journey he carries a pass from Ellen Howard.  Once Cassius connects with the Confederate slaves on the railroad, he is able to blend in as if he is one of them.  It is historical fact that there were slaves who supported the Confederacy.  Cassius is able to blend in again when he joins the Confederate quartermaster’s wagon train.  He is in grave danger when he enters the small town near the border of Maryland, and this is where he encounters the abolitionists.  Once across the Potomac, he finds himself among soldiers of the Union army.  When I did the research, I needed to convince myself that Cassius’s travel north was doable before I was willing to write it.   

His return to the plantation is specifically based on the information we know about how Harriet Tubman was able to make 19 crossings over 11 years into the slave state of Maryland to bring slaves north, via the Underground Railroad.  She never lost a slave on any of her journeys.  I have intentionally paralleled Cassius’s secret foray back to Sweetsmoke with her methods. 

I showed this information to the reviewer and asked his permission to post it, and he graciously consented.  While I’m not sure that my answers change his opinion, I appreciate his graciousness and I enjoyed his thoughtful review.   

I will be at Borders Westwood to discuss and sign copies of SWEETSMOKE on Wednesday September 10th at 7 pm.  Come on by! 

Ernesto Martinez, buyer of African-American titles, Borders & Waldenbooks

– Publishers Weekly, 8/25/2008

David Fuller’s fascinating debut novel, Sweetsmoke [Hyperion, Sept.], is an admirable historical—yet somehow personal—investigation into the horrors of slavery during the American Civil War at a Virginia tobacco plantation called Sweetsmoke. Cassius is a black skilled carpenter slave whose oppressed spirit is shaken by the assassination of his best friend and tutor, propelling him into a desperate search for justice and freedom. When his quest for dignity conflicts with the traditions of a reprimanding society and his own loyalties, Cassius puts his life and the lives of his fellow workers in jeopardy with the estate’s patriarch to discover the truth. The plot is a captivating mystery that goes beyond the unmasking of a killer; it evolves into a series of actions that could change the fate of an entire nation. David Fuller makes an astounding debut as a novelist. I have no doubt that readers will find this great novel impossible to forget.

Great Historical Fiction!, August 23, 2008
By Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What’s this?)
The advanced praise and publisher’s accolades for Sweetsmoke are not unwarranted. David Fuller has penned a rich, full-bodied story that centers on a slave’s (Cassius) desire to identify the killer of a free-woman who is endeared to him via bewildering circumstances. To its credit, the novel goes deeper than the average “whodunit.” It is the equally complex sub-plots, the noble and conniving characters, the accuracy of the historical content, and the wonderfully imagined social network of life, love, loss, and pain on a Virginia Plantation at the onset of the Civil War that add layers of depth and incredible breadth to the story. The politics and racial attitudes of the day are illustrated well in the book which also contained some of the most vivid battlefield scenes I have read.

So often books of this nature cover the master-slave relationship in the perfunctory manner, but Fuller exceeded my expectations by creating some very unique relationships among the slaves and the slave owners. Another aspect that I respected was the equal weight given to the happenings inside the “big house” as well as the slave quarters. He also vigilantly broached valid but unpopular topics such as as slaves supporting the Confederacy and the manipulation, betrayal, and infighting within the slave community. He also showed us the intelligence, bravery, and cunning of Cassius as he navigated the plantation and the free world.

Bottom line: There are several reviews posted already that enthusiastically endorse the novel and I agree wholeheartedly with them. Most likely this novel will make my personal Top Reads list for this year — I enjoyed it for the history lessons, the mystery, and the characters. This book is firmly on equal footing with The March by E.L. Doctorow, Song Yet Sung by James McBride, and Stand the Storm by Breena Clarke. Recommended for historical fiction fans interested in the US slave institution during the Civil War era.

I will be at Borders Westwood Sept 10, 7pm for discussion and signing.

August 23, 2008
Review: Sweetsmoke by David Fuller

Sweetsmoke, David Fuller, 2008
Historical Fiction, 309 pages
Hyperion Books, ARC Edition

Synopsis taken from the author’s website:

The year is 1862, and the Civil War is in full flame. Cassius Howard, a slave and carpenter on a tobacco plantation, risks everything – extreme punishment, sale to a cotton plantation, even his life – to learn the truth concerning the murder of a freed black woman, a woman who secretly taught him to read and once saved his life. No one gives a damn about her small, rude, unimportant death in the midst of a brutal and hellish war. No one but Cassius, who braves unimaginable dangers to escape the plantation and avenge her death.

Sweetsmoke is Cassius’s journey into knowledge, knowledge that tests him and very nearly destroys him, ultimately guiding him toward freedom.

I like the above verbiage better than what was provided on the book jacket. It more accurately touches on what I think is an important aspect of this story. In fact, it is that last sentence that sticks with me the most, as it is this impression that still remains long after I turned the last page.

It is such a strong undercurrent, that the solving of his friends murder is almost anti-climatic when you realize that so much more was accomplished by Cassius’ quest. In seeking vengeance for another, he found a way to free him from that which enslaved him, physically and emotionally.

I received an advanced reader’s copy of Sweetsmoke through my membership in the Early Reviewers group at LibraryThing. Upon opening the package from Hyperion Books, I was impressed. Presented in trade paperback form, the cover is well done and appropriate for the story within. For me, a book cover is as much a part of the overall package as the contents, and neither failed to disappoint.

As I stated earlier, the main plot is a murder mystery. But as the story unfolds, so do the intricate layers of characterization and storytelling, which clearly display the skill of the author not only in the research needed to set the environment, but the understanding of the lives of the various peoples caught up in one of the most tumultuous times in American history.

From the first chapter onward, Fuller offers an easy to read, informative story that at times is uncomfortable, but not because of his writing. Slavery was a brutal institution, and the author does not shy away from the atrocities committed. However never are they presented gratuitously or so graphic, that one must pull their eyes and minds away in horror or disgust.

One of the passages that truly struck me was one in which a slave owner had a thought, a daydream if you will, which offered an insight she brushed aside, but I could not:
A strange and fleeting image entered Ellen’s mind, that of a large cage in a small room. The cage was filled with slaves while their masters were outside the cage squeezed and immobile in the narrow space between the cage and walls. This was a queer image indeed as both master and slave were unable to reach the fresh air that beckoned through a wide open door.
For me this represented the quandary that faced the South at this time. That this institution that many felt they could not do without, had in fact become a “responsibility” they could no longer handle, and in a sense, imprisoned them as much as those who they enslaved.

Freedom and a better life lay just within reach, but were inaccessible because of a belief system that few refused to acknowledge as inhumane and unacceptable.

I would love to go on and on about this book, but if I did, what incentive would be left for you to go out and get a copy yourself and read it. And you should. I could have read this book in one sitting, but started it much too late in the day to do so: it was that good.

For this reason it is getting 5 Stars.

*****