Middle Passage
by Charles Johnson
Award: National Book 1990
Nomination: National Book Critics Circle 1990
Date Read: March 3, 2020
I honestly did not expect to enjoy Middle Passage as much as I did. A black ne'er-do-well New Orleans man attempts to escape his debts and commitment to marry by stowing away on a cargo ship. The ship turns out to be far worse than the entanglements he's attempting to escape. The ship turns out to be a nightmare.
First, the ship is comprised of a raggedy crew with a penchant for drinking and violence. The captain notoriously takes advantage of young deck hands for his own sexual pleasure and runs off with priceless antiquities from every port they dock.
Second, the ship's main purpose is a slave ship, sent from New Orleans to Africa.
Third, the ship itself is on its last legs and threatens to break apart from every gale and gust.
Rutherford Calhoun, our trusty protagonist, is has burned several bridges in New Orleans and believes the Republic, the cargo ship at port is his ticket to safety. After several close calls with the ship's seaworthiness and run-ins with the crew, Calhoun believes he will make it out of this predicament alive after arriving in Africa and taking on their cargo.
Calhoun is disgusted at the treatment of the slaves they have boarded and questions his own morality in participating in this, being a black man himself. Nevertheless, he has no outs here but simultaneously participates in freeing the slaves and a mutiny, leaving fate to determine who will be victorious. It turns out neither are particularly victorious.
The storytelling here is superb and the plot is a page-turner, however, I found some of the characters and circumstances not quite believable. Most notably, the probability of a black man such as Papa amassing so much wealth during slavery is unbelievable, as well as Calhoun running into him at just about every turn. Makes for a great story but not so great at credulity.
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