Of One Blood

If you enjoy reading books from the late 18th century or early 19th century, I strongly recommend reading this book. This book has many of the elements of classic gothic horror - haunted houses, premonitions, mind contorl, murder, and, of course, SUPER messed up romatnic relationships and family secrets. But it was interesting reading a story told by an African American author who uses some of these literary elements to not only entertain, but to really explore profound and pressing issues of race - issues that still lurk, unresolved, to this day. Additionally, I liked that part of the story is set in Ethiopia. This distinguishes the book from its contemporaries that were set entirely in claustrophobic mansions and brittle English/New England landscapes (although it does have that as well.) But it also distinct from contempoariers that did send characters to other parts of the world, but only to emphasize the authors' beliefs that white Westerners were more civilized than anyone else. In Of One Blood, the main character's experience in Ethiopia is ulimately a celebration of non-white, non-Western civilization, presented in contrast with the groteseque, vicious behavior of the aristocratic Bostonian antagonist. Of course, this book is a product of its time: The dialogue is pure melodrama, the villainy can be a littel cartoonish, and some of the depictions of certain characters (including some Black characters) can be a little eyebrow-raising. But overall, very enjoyable, and it all gets tied up wiht a fantastic, unforgettable, pure gothic horror ending that most fans of this sub-genre should really find satisfying.