Song Yet Sung

“Song Yet Sung” is a novel that takes place in the Southern part of the States during the times of slavery.  It centers around the life of a character called, “The Dreamer” who is a runaway slave who sees visions and images of the future due to a serious blow to the head.  It’s quite interesting because the visions that she has are in her time but, are also in ours.  She sees visions of the lives of African Americans of our present.    She’s deeply troubled at what she sees and it portrays a very interesting perspective on the condition of our present day society. 

This book was quite a fast read and was very interesting but at times, I struggled with it.  I haven’t researched it as of yet but it seemed to me that some of the language used in the book, wouldn’t have been accurate language used during that time period.  Terms like, “Just joshing you”.  Maybe someone reading can clear that up for me – is that a term that was used during the time in history? 

The novel itself is worth a read, especially if, like myself, you are drawn to books that take place during this time period and deals with issues of Race.  However, read it and enjoy it simply as a story, not as a realistic story or as a historically accurate account of events during that time period as it seems slightly unrealistic in terms of language and events.