Review: Africaville

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Amistad (December 10, 2019)

A ferociously talented writer makes his stunning debut with this richly woven tapestry, set in a small Nova Scotia town settled by former slaves, that depicts several generations of one family bound together and torn apart by blood, faith, time, and fate.

Vogue : Best Books to Read This Winter

Structured as a triptych, Africaville chronicles the lives of three generations of the Sebolt family—Kath Ella, her son Omar/Etienne, and her grandson Warner—whose lives unfold against the tumultuous events of the twentieth century from the Great Depression of the 1930s, through the social protests of the 1960s to the economic upheavals in the 1980s.

A century earlier, Kath Ella’s ancestors established a new home in Nova Scotia. Like her ancestors, Kath Ella’s life is shaped by hardship—she struggles to conceive and to provide for her family during the long, bitter Canadian winters. She must also contend with the locals’ lingering suspicions about the dark-skinned “outsiders” who live in their midst.
Kath Ella’s fierce love for her son, Omar, cannot help her overcome the racial prejudices that linger in this remote, tight-knit place. As he grows up, the rebellious Omar refutes the past and decides to break from the family, threatening to upend all that Kath Ella and her people have tried to build. Over the decades, each successive generation drifts further from Africaville, yet they take a piece of this indelible place with them as they make their way to Montreal, Vermont, and beyond, to the deep South of America.

As it explores notions of identity, passing, cross-racial relationships, the importance of place, and the meaning of home, Africaville tells the larger story of the black experience in parts of Canada and the United States. Vibrant and lyrical, filled with colorful details, and told in a powerful, haunting voice, this extraordinary novel—as atmospheric and steeped in history as The Known World, Barracoon, The Underground Railroad, and The Twelve Tribes of Hattie—is a landmark work from a sure-to-be major literary talent.

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~My Thoughts~

This is one of those books that you know is going to be important and you know is going to be good. When you open the cover, you know you are going to be affected. Somehow, the author is going to reach into your heart and mind and make an imprint, whether or not you want them to. Do you know what I mean?

It’s also a book that I feel will be polarizing for some because it doesn’t necessarily follow a traditional story telling path. Jeffrey Colvin chose to tell a more nuanced story through the memories and experiences of multiple generations of a family living in different places. Due to his narrative style, it’s a little harder to get hooked into the action of the story, but also creates a much broader and layered depiction of these towns and these people as they grow and change through time.

Africaville is a journey. It takes the reader to different countries, different civilizations, and different time periods. It’s almost too much for one book, because I felt overwhelmed with the amount of information.

The characters are flawed but rendered flawlessly. There is so much depth to each person, their story, and how they impact one another for years to come. I honestly believe this book could be studied in literature classes. My English degree is begging me to write an analytical essay on the themes and cultural contexts explored by Jeffrey Colvin, but I know not everyone considers this a fun use of time.

I love reading books that expose me to different experiences and force me to open my eyes and mind to other cultures. Africaville does this almost effortlessly. I would recommend this book to anyone, anytime.

~About the Author~

JEFFREY COLVIN served in the United States Marine Corps and is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Harvard University, and Columbia University, where he received an MFA in fiction. His work has appeared in Narrative, Hot Metal Bridge, Painted Bride Quarterly, Rain Taxi Review of Books, The Millions, The Brooklyn Rail, and elsewhere. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and is an assistant editor at Narrative magazine. He lives in New York City.

Find out more at his website.