Product Description

Property is Valerie Martin's powerful, startling novel set in America's deep South in the early nineteenth century: a story of freedom, both political and personal. Manon Gaudet is unhappily married to the owner of a Louisiana sugar plantation. She misses her family and longs for the vibrant lifestyle of her native New Orleans. The tension revolves around Sarah, a slave girl given to Manon as a wedding present from her aunt, whose young son Walter is living proof of where Manon's husband's inclinations lie. This private drama is played out against a brooding atmosphere of slave unrest and bloody uprisings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62062 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

NORTHERN ECHO
'Martin's tale won the Orange prize for fiction and it's easy to see why.'

The Los Angeles Times
`It's a novel fraught with tension, desperation and rage, all masterfully sustained until the bitter conclusion`

The Times
` Perversely pleasurable`

Customer Reviews

Uncertain
I picked up 'Property' from a second hand stall, and the fact that it won the Orange Prize in 2003 caught my attention, as did the glowing comment from Carol Shields, one of my favourite authors, on the cover.

All in all, Property is a confusing novel. Set in the mid 1800s, Manon is a woman unhappily married to a adulterous slave owner who runs a sugar plantation. Dealing with debt and the imminent threat of a slave rebellion, the book is filled with tension both in the household and in the country as a whole. The main characters are all heavily flawed and mostly unlikeable, but you still find yourself interested in their fate.

At a little over 200 pages I found myself wondering how the story would be told in so few pages, and yet halfway through I was wondering how the story could continue. At points it felt dragged out, and at other times it felt like Valerie Martin had lost her way and was unsure where her story was going. But there were sparkling moments of poetic phrasing and the images of the house and the violence conjured up by her were beautifully clear. I would recommend this book as it is a quick read, but I would warn any potential reader that they may find it vague at points, and the ending extremely abrupt.

Remarkable naked story of property
In reviewing Valerie Martin's "Property", the first statement that comes to mind is "cut to the bone". No long descriptions, superfluous internal monologues, or plot-wise side-glances. "Property" is very naked, and that fact corresponds with the subject-matter and is one of the x-factors that rises "Property" above and beyond so many other novels.

"Property" is just about property. The main character is Manon, a lonely Southern woman, married to a Louisiana planter and about the slave, Sarah, that was her wedding gift and now also her husband's mistress. However talking more about the characters does not encapsule the novel.

"Property" is about slavery in different guises as an African-American in Louisiana in the 19th century, as a wife, and as a planter close to bankrupcy.

This is in truth the kind of novel that you cannot put down, and even when you have turned the final page, "Property" stays with you.

Louise.

Enjoyable!
Throughly enjoyed this book. It was quite short and had a speedy pace, which made a pleasant change.
As other readers did, I found it hard to identify with any of the fews of the main character Manon, yet I still enjoyed her as a character.
My only critism of the story may be that it ended rather abruptly. I would have liked to have learnt more of the relationship between Manon and her slave Sarah, unfortunately didn't get the chance.
That for me was the only down point of an otherwise excellent book.