Property by Valerie Martin

 

Property by Valerie Martin won the Orange Prize (now Women's Prize for fiction) in 2003. In this book, we find Manon Gaudet in 1828 on a sugar plantation, unhappily married, bitter, childless, and jealous of an enslaved woman named Sarah who has borne Manon's husband's children. The book is told in three parts - the first details Manon's caustic personality, the second a slave revolt on her husband's plantation, and the last is the aftermath of that revolt.

The title of this book is crucial. This book shows the parallels between Manon's subjugated life as the marital property of her husband, unable to control her own money or land, and the life of Sarah who knows she can be bought and sold and abused, taken away from her family and children, and suffers not only sexual abuse from Manon's husband, but from Manon as well.

I thought this was a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the landed poor in the pre-Civil War American South. It's also a fascinating glimpse into how remorseless people who owned enslaved black people were in their thoughts about those enslaved people. It's to Martin's credit that while Manon is irredeemably nasty and was unable to see how her own subjugation was a lesser form of the subjugation of the slaves she ordered around, the reader is still compelled to keep turning pages to find out what will become of all the members of this household.

There are some criticisms of this book. Many people think this book should have been about Sarah instead of Manon. I think there is certainly a place for that book and I'd love to read it if Martin wanted to write it, but I also think this is an important book in terms of understanding exactly how white slaves owners felt and understood their roles in society. It's not pleasant and I don't think Martin glamorizes or excuses Manon's actions or thoughts, but I think it's a narrative worth telling and worth reading.

Another big criticism of the book is that it ends abruptly. I agree that it does end abruptly, but I think that's because it indicates nothing is going to change for Sarah or Manon. It's decades before the Civil War in Louisiana and while Martin could continue the story until the death of all the characters, I don't think it's necessary. We know what the rest of their lives will hold already and the ending comes when it does because there's nothing left for the readers to gain.  

An interesting book. It's dark and depressing, but it's also short (196 pages!) and impactful.

4.5/5 stars

Line of note:

If only I'd had an example of his epistolary style before I agreed to marry him. But he had been careful to send the briefest messages, apprising me only of his expected arrivals and departures in town. Stupidly I took his terseness as proof that he was a man of affairs, but now I know it is because he is so dull he can think of but few words to say. (page 73)

A good example of Manon's overall resentment of her station in life.

Thing I looked up:

orgeat water (page 79) - Orgeat syrup is a sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar, and rose water or orange flower water. It was originally made with a barley-almond blend. Today it is used to flavor many cocktails.