5 Stars
Pros: Coates words are sensory overload. You can see, smell, taste, touch, everything that happens. Though the book's ending is mixed, in a way, it's truly satisfying.
Cons: Slavery in general is a horrible thing but through Hiram's eyes we see it in an all too personal way. This is not a con with the novel itself, it is a con with the mere idea that humans think that they can own other humans.
Full Review:
Hiram (Hi) is the son of his master (Walker) and his mother Rose. His mother was sold when he was nine and his father eventually brings him up to the house, to work as his other son, Maynard's, manservant. Hiram does as he is told, is quiet and obedient. But at the same time he knows he is different.
He has an incredible knack for memory and learns very, very quickly. These are traits that will help him a great amount later in his life. But while he toils away his time acting as Maynard's babysitter, one night something extraordinary happens. While returning from the races, with a drunken Maynard in the coach, Hiram is surprised to see a bed of mist rolling towards them from off the Goose River. He sees within that mist a vision of a woman, dancing, and realizes, down deep, that it's his mother. The next thing he knows, he's in the river, and he and Maynard are fighting for their lives against the current.
Just when Hiram thinks that he can't fight the river anymore and will drown, he finds himself on dry land. He's at the monument built to the original Walker, the founder of the Lockless estate, and Hirams' great grandfather. When he comes back to himself, he is in bed, and the miraculous story is told to him. Sophia, the "woman" of Hiram's father's brother (Hiram's uncle, Nathaniel Walker) tells him that he was found on the riverbank by Corrine Quinn's (Maynard's fiancee) hired man, Hawkins. No one knows how he managed to drag himself out of the river, but Hiram has an unsettled feeling in his chest, that something else happened. He doesn't know how or why and he can't explain it but he has a feeling it has something to do with the vision he saw of his mother in the mist.
It isn't long after his miraculous recovery that Hiram decides that he's done. He wants to be his own man. He wants to be free. And so he decides to run with Sophia. But it all goes to Hell. Through months of horror, hardship, pain and literally being hunted like a dog, Hiram is again, found by Hawkins and the true nature of things is explained to him.
A little bit of fantasy mixed in with a whole Hell of a lot of horror and degradation, the story of Hiram Walker and his ability to "conduct" is remarkable. Coates is a master storyteller, leaving the reader wanting more at the end of each chapter and eager to pick the book up again to pick up where they left off.
Hiram is a humble, gentle, likable character and all the others in his life, Thena, Sophia, Corrine all have their qualities. It is a book about love, memory, family and most importantly of how the power of all three combined can create something truly amazing.
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