What I like about the Little Black Classics is that you are reading so many different authors, including ones that you had never heard of before encountering them in this series. Aphra Behn was one of those, and to be honest, reading about her was the most interesting part of this classic for me.
Aphra Behn was a woman far ahead of her time in the sense that she led a very interesting and independent life as -among others- a spy and wrote novels by the end of the 17th Century. So, Hooray for that!
Oroonoko is the story of an African prince (with a lot of European features it must be said) who is sold into slavery out of jealousy. While I thought the beginning of the novel was very good and interesting, it lost me half way. But nevertheless, I am glad I got to learn about Aphra Behn.
Oroonoko (Little Black Classics #106) – Aphra Behn
Url Phantomhive 
I actually quite enjoyed this book and thought it was one of the more interesting classics I has to read for uni 😉 All the criticism of slavery was so on point! Although I must say – my friend and I probably shouldn’t have discussed the ending in loud voices in the physics department… I think the people there still think we’re serial killing lunatics 😂😂
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I think in this case it was the fault of the Little Black Classics, since it doesn’t include the entire story and there is no context given whatsoever, that I enjoyed it less. It was only afterwards that I learned the book played such an important role in the abolition of slavery…
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Oh well – even if it was historically important, that doesn’t mean everyone has to enjoy it. I actually had a lot of fun reading rant reviews by critics who argued against counting Oroonoko as the earliest novel because it used “ridiculous romance tropes” and didn’t portray the world “realistically” enough. So apparently loads of people hated the book for various reasons… And whatever context they give would probably be biased, too 😉
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LOL, apparently the tropes were a problem already in the 17th Century, and yes everyone gets something else from the books, that’s for sure…
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