Book Reviews
Island Beneath the Sea
Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende chronicles the life of Zarité, a slave in 18th century Saint-Domingue, currently Haiti. The book’s first part deals with the atrocities committed against the slaves in a sugar cane plantation owned by a man named Toulouse Valmorain. Tété is a domestic slave whose duties mirror those of a housekeeper.
Island Beneath the Sea
457 pp. HarperCollins Publishers
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Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende chronicles the life of Zarité, a slave in 18th century Saint-Domingue, currently Haiti. The book’s first part deals with the atrocities committed against the slaves in a sugar cane plantation owned by a man named Toulouse Valmorain. Tété is a domestic slave whose duties mirror those of a housekeeper. Yet not even a position away from the cane fields protects the woman from mistreatment at the hands of her master. The author tackles difficult subjects such as rape of the slaves by their owners with such delicacy, portraying the events from both perspectives.
Allende writes each chapter from the perspective of a different character, allowing the reader to observe the thought process of each individual…
This artfully told story about the treatment of human beings as property is both insightful and heartbreaking. Allende writes each chapter from the perspective of a different character, allowing the reader to observe the thought process of each individual, such as how Valmorain, the master, justifies his use of slaves to himself. And Allende manages to tell each portion of the narrative objectively, letting each character speak for his or herself.
The book also covers the rebellion of the slaves on Saint-Dominique in the late 1700s, despite the fact that the main characters have left the island. The author attempts to humanize the bloody struggle for Haiti’s freedom but without the involvement of crucial characters, these chapters become a hindrance, necessary to read but without the personal interest that the central plot evokes. These sections slow the story down, dumping unessential information about minor characters in an attempt to make the fight for independence as touching as Tété’s personal battle with slavery. However, Allende’s use of individuals who add little to the overall story causes the reader to feel significantly less about the fate of these additions.
Island Beneath the Sea is a heartbreaking tale about the injustice of slavery and radical discrimination in the late 1700s. The novel is painfully truthful about the soul-crushing obstacles that faced those of African descent, enslaved or free.
Island Beneath the Sea is about hope. Throughout the book, Tété manages to retain her hope, that one day she will be free from her service to the Valmorain family, that her child will not experience the same injustices as she did, that her faith in Erzulie (the Haitian Voodoo goddess of love) will protect her, and so on. Simply, Tété remains hopeful that the world is a good place, even when faced with several examples that prove that this is not true. We live in a society in which people do unspeakable things to each other, and often it is for little or no reason. Yet Tété’s belief that everything will work out in the end is what motivates her to continue on even when another day seems unbearable. She persists because she is confident that one day all her problems will be solved and it is because of this outlook that Tété is able to escape a life of crippling hatred and resentment. Hope is what saves her.
However, the book is also about the development of an individuals beliefs, how a man could go from the positive scholar to an abusive, mean-spirited man in the span of forty years. The author manages to portray the gradual shift of Valmorain’s worldviews with such graceful finesse that the reader does not realize the change until it is done. Unlike Tété, the optimist in Valmorain, who wished to forget about sugar and study science lost hope that his dream would come true. The reader observes as this man’s resignation to a life he did not wish for slowly changes him, turning him into an uncaring slave owner. Eventually, the bitter man obliterates the young idealist.
Island Beneath the Sea is a heartbreaking tale about the injustice of slavery and radical discrimination in the late 1700s. The novel is painfully truthful about the soul-crushing obstacles that faced those of African descent, enslaved or free. Allende captures the mistreatment of an entire race at the hands of their fellow people with great detail, refusing to leave out disturbing details that may disturb the reader in favor of honesty with the choices made by those then.
This book will make your heart ache with the suffering of the people. The story telling is so vivid that tone can feel the pain of the punished slave or the fear of the black who over-stepped his boundaries. However, this moving tale deals with tragedy. There is more despairing moments than happy ones. If you plan to read this novel to hear about an individual who overcame the odds, I do not advise this book. This is about the hardships of the oppressed, inconsolable heartache, impossible decisions, persevering in the worst of times, and the occasional chance of brief happiness. Isabel Allende wrote an inspiring book about an appalling aspect of our past that serves as a reminder of the resolution of the human spirit as well as the cruelties humanity is capable of.
