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Book Review of Oxherding Tale

Oxherding Tale
Oxherding Tale
Author: Charles Johnson
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 6 more book reviews


Charles Johnson, winner of a 1990 National Book Award, offers the comic philosophical adventures of Andrew Hawkins, a mulatto slave born in the antebellum South. In a desparate flight to freedom, Andrew seeks to escape a bondage that is not only physical, but also spiratual, not only racial, but also sexual, and along the way he encounters an amazing cast of characters: Reb, the coffinmaker, an all-wise African magician who befriends Andrew and follows him north; and Horace Bannon, the soulcatcher, who captures a runaway slave not with dogs or guns, but with his soul--and he's hot on Andrew's trail.