He does not recognize the music which moves others to dance and sing. As the title suggests, he is a very old man.

He lives on a sugar plantation in which he is held in near reverence by the other slaves. It’s unlike any American slave narrative I’ve ever read, and that is not only because Chamoiseau’s slave is in the West Indies Caribbean island of Martinique, but from the very beginning, I believed the old slave was escaping to reach something more than escaping from something. Slave Old Man is marketed as a novel although its page count of 133 would suggest a novella, which eventually morphs into a fictional memoir in the old slave’s voice, then back to the original narrator as he describes the master when in pursuit of the old slave. This review took me at least three reads, and Slave Old Man will now remain on my nightstand for years to come. So, on Ron Shoop’s (retired RH rep) recommendation, I requested a copy of Patrick Chamoiseau’s Slave Old Man with the promise that I would, indeed, review it. But it is here now, and the world Chamoiseau creates through the eyes of this aging runaway reveals the enduring cruelty of bondage and the endless creativity of its survivors and their descendants.The books I often find most difficult to review are those recommended by someone whose suggestions are not taken lightly. One can’t help but wonder why it took so long for this treasure to be translated into English. Even deceptively everyday creatures, like the mastiff sent by the master to pursue escaping slaves, transmogrify into terrifying demons, “possessed by the vibrant orange tints of a living heart of fire.” Passages like this, rich with imagery and music, occasionally flecked with vivid creole vernacular, can be plucked from any paragraph on any page. In this slim novel, originally published in French in the late 1990s, the titular slave escapes the confines of plantation life only to encounter a wilderness dense with spirits both familiar and unexpected. Few authors embody literary movements as authentically as Martinique-born Chamoiseau, who pioneered the créolité (creoleness) genre in the 1980s, producing screenplays, essay collections, and novels, including Texaco(1997), recipient of the prestigious Prix Goncourt, France’s top literary prize.

Slave old man by patrick chamoiseau