PLOT: 3/5
CHARACTERS: 3/5
WRITING STYLE: 2/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5
First impressions
The cover page of A White Amongst the Blacks is interesting and attractive. The font used is pretty dramatic. The title stands justified to the story. I immediately fell in love with the story when I was around 30 pages into it. And then came the unnecessary drama which was a big disappointment.
My views
This is a story of late 17th and early 18th century. Its first look got me thinking that it’s a storyline based on a love story between a black man and a white a girl. I was partially right.
Though the story is about the deep love between a black guy and a white girl, it mainly focuses on the union of a father with his daughter and how the daughter abolishes racism.
Plot
A White Amongst the Blacks starts with a black woman giving birth to a white girl named Gloria in a land full of blacks.
Soon after Gloria’s birth, her mother dies waiting for the father of her daughter to return and justify his actions.
The story then takes a leap of 18 years, where we see an old man meeting a servant who hands him a present to which the old man promises to deliver it to Gloria. He goes home and hides the gift in closet full of presents and letters which were sent by Gloria’s father since she was one.
It was Gloria’s birthday and her grandparents had organized a party in which the king of Burkeinhemians and his family were invited. The king arrived to the party with an intension of turning their friendship into a relationship by wedding his son Sam to Gloria.
Gloria raises her concern stating she isn’t ready for marriage yet, but her intentions were different. She was in love with Oreo, her friend who fights to release black prisoners.
When she proposes to Oreo about her feelings, he rejects her with the fear that she will be wedding Sam one day.
Few days later Gloria confronts her grandmother about her father. Her grandmother reveals the truth about her father. The story flips to the past:
Her father Daniel was the son of the king of Verisimilia, land of whites where animals were treated better than blacks. Daniel was taken care of by Margarete, Gloria’s grandmother.
Mitchel, Gloria’s mother was born at the same time. The humble queen allowed Margarete to bring Mitchel to the palace, the condition being that her son Daniel be given the first priority to be nurtured.
Daniel and Mitchel grew up together and developed strong feelings towards each other. One night the king caught them in an awkward position in the old palace. He then called Mitchel and her family in the middle of the night and threw Joshua and Margarete out and imprisoned Mitchel.
Joshua and his friends planned and rescued Mitchel and other black prisoners, that’s when Joshua and Margarete got to know that Mitchel is pregnant with Daniel’s child. Mitchel decided to give birth to it and raise it on her own.
Narrating this, Margarete leaves Gloria alone with her father’s gifts and letters. That’s when she gets to know that the king had ditched Daniel by lying to him and sending him away from the kingdom while he imprisoned Mitchel.
Daniel then urges Gloria to join him in Verisimilia and become the queen as it is her right and end racism.
Oreo accompanies her on her way without her consent to Verisimilia where he proposes to her and they make love.
They decide to halt at the islands on their way. Gloria asks Apunda, chief of Canian island, to get them married. They wed unofficially within two days and make love on their first night.
According to their ritual, their future would be predicted by a witch named Shaman. Shaman tells them something that shatters Gloria.
What does she tell? Grab A White Amongst the Blacks to know further.
Writing style
The author seems to be very excited in the beginning. In between the book, the story at once turns overdramatic and boring. Further, in the end, many incidents are stuffed up in a few pages.
The book lacks consistency. It is predictable too.
The language was fairly easy. Even a beginner can grab this one. The emotions of the characters are elaborated. It felt like a different author wrote different parts of the story. The story began pretty well but ended up in a mess.
Would I recommend it?
If you are a beginner you can go for this one. I would not recommend this if you are into serious reading.
Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of A White Amongst the Blacks by Shefali Kumar using the link below.
